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How to Reset a WordPress Install

Are You Looking for a Way to Reset Your WordPress Website? Perhaps You Wish to Start from Scratch? While There Isn’t an In-Built WordPress ‘Reset’ Button, Admin are able to Reset their Website Either Manually or Through the Use of a Plugin.

In this tutorial we’ll take a look at how a WordPress install can be reset to it’s original settings. Resetting a WordPress website means all data will be lost so it’s important to back up your site if there is any information worth saving. Effectively, resetting a WP installs means that all data bases and files are returned to their original state or commonly referred to as their factory settings.

Resetting a WordPress install can be completed by following the instructions below, or watching our video tutorials. Using the WP Reset plugin is an efficient way of resetting for those without developer knowledge, while using cPanel is generally the preferred way by WordPress enthusiasts.

Why do WordPress Users Choose to Reset their Website?

Resetting a WordPress website means returning all the files and databases to their original state. While this is ideal for those wishing to start fresh, it also means that all content that was previously on the website will no longer be accessible.

You may have created a number of test posts or pages and now wish to start with a clean slate for a live website. Completing a full website reset can be an efficient way of ‘cleaning up’ to start building your live site after testing is complete.

While not every WordPress user will want to reset their website, for those landing on this page, they have most likely found themselves in one of the situations below.

There are a number of reasons why someone would want to reset their WordPress website:

The website is to be used for a different project

The site was used for staging or demonstrating

Wish to use the same domain for a new business adventure

The owner wishes to restore the site from a previous backup

The owner is seeing many errors on a recently new website and feels the best way to overcome these errors is a complete reset

The WordPress website cannot be accessed due to a failure and admin has previously saved a backup

What is Entailed in a Website Reset?

Depending on how you reset your WordPress will dictate if it will be a complete reset meaning all settings and files are lost or a partial reset. For example, using the ‘WP Reset‘ plugin, you can dictate whether or not your plugins are reactivated after a reset or not.

If you wish to use any data that was previously stored on your site (in the database tables) now is the time to complete a backup of your website.

How to Reset a WordPress Install

The instructions below can be completed to reset a WordPress website. Please note that by completing a reset you will not be able to retrieve information that may have been previously saved on your site. It is important prior to resetting your WordPress website that you back up any information you wish to use in the future.

Method 1) Resetting My WordPress Install with a Plugin

Video Tutorial: Using a Plugin to Reset My WordPress

Written Tutorial: Using a Plugin to Reset My WordPress

This is the best way to reset WordPress for those who aren’t that WordPress savvy. Using a plugin to reset your WordPress can be hassle free and means you will never need to leave your WordPress dashboard. While this way is effective, it means that you will still need to have access to your WordPress site.

Step 1) From your WordPress dashboard, click on the Plugins menu and then on ‘add new‘. Search for the following plugin: WP Reset. Step 2) ‘Install‘ and ‘Activate‘ the WP Reset Plugin (Please note: This is not a TTHQ plugin).

Step 3) Now click on the ‘Tools‘ menu in your WordPress Dashboard. Step 4)Under ‘Tools‘ click on the sub-menu; WP Reset. Step 5) Read the text to ensure you wish to reset your WordPress. If you are happy to go ahead and reset, type the word ‘Reset‘ in the field towards the bottom. Also specify any ‘Post-reset Actions‘ that you wish to occur. Step 6) Click the ‘Reset WordPress‘ button. Step 7) Click the ‘Reset WordPress‘ button again to confirm a full reset.

You have now completed a reset of your WordPress website.

Further WordPress Database Reset Plugins

While our procedure above outlines how to use the WP Reset Plugin to achieve a WordPress Reset, there are a number of other plugins that can also do the trick. If you find WP Reset is not working on your website, checkout some of the following WordPress.Org Reset Plugins:

Advanced WordPress Reset

Reset WP

WordPress Reset

Method 2) Resetting WordPress Install without the Use of a Plugin

To reset your WordPress install without the use of a plugin you will need to have access to your website’s cPanel (or similar). The details needed to access your WordPress database can be obtained from your hosting provider.

This method is said to be the harder method of the two, although by following the instructions below even someone without developer knowledge should be able to reset their WordPress account.

Using cPanel to Reset a WordPress Website

Step 1) Log in to your ‘cPanel‘ account for the WordPress install that you wish to reset. Step 2) Once you have logged into cPanel, click on the ‘MySQL Databases‘ button located under the ‘Databases‘ section.

Step 3) Find the name of the database in question and ensure you copy and paste the name of it into a notepad. You’ll need this later. Step 4) From the actions column, click the ‘Delete‘ button for the database you wish to reset. This will delete that WordPress database so ensure if you wished to save any of that data, you did that prior to clicking delete.

Step 5) Now you will not be able to access your WordPress website until the following steps are completed. Step 6) At the top of that same page, you’ll need to ‘Recreate‘ that database. Paste the name of the database from your notepad into the ‘Create Database‘ field. If you do not copy and paste the name of your previous database correctly, the reset will not work. Step 7) Click the ‘Create Database‘ button. This database should now appear under the ‘Current Databases‘ section.

Step 8) You will now need to add back the admin user to be able to access that database. You will need to use the exact same username and password as you used previously otherwise the file won’t recognize the new database.

Step 9) You have now added the database back and created your admin user. With this method the themes, uploads and plugins you had will not be deleted. If you wish to delete them to start fresh with a new feel WordPress site, you’ll need to head to the ‘wp-content‘ directory in the WordPress root folder. From there you can delete the files under: Plugins, Theme and Uploads. It is recommended to leave one theme. Step 10) This is the final step in the reset process. You’ll need to copy your website’s primary URL and add it to the following in the browser /wp-admin/install.php. For example: https://plugin-demo.com/wp-admin/install.php. It will ask you to fill in your login details here. This is the last crucial step to resetting your WordPress website.

The post How to Reset a WordPress Install appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.

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Step by Step Integration of PayPal with Shopify

You’ve created an online website using Shopify, an increasingly popular eCommerce platform although you can’t quite work out how to set up PayPal, the world’s leading online payment service.

Follow along to learn how you can enable PayPal to allow your Shopify customer’s to begin making payments directly into your account.

What You Need to Know to Integrate PayPal with Shopify

To integrate PayPal with Shopify there are a few key things to know.

Number one is obvious for most but you will need a verified PayPal account and a Shopify website.

Secondly your PayPal account will need to be a Business Account. If you already have a Personal PayPal Account you can simply upgrade to a Business Account.

If you have set up those three things, you’ll be ready to integrate PayPal with Shopify. While Shopify push to use their bank depositing system known as ‘Shopify Pay‘, there are multiple other payment gateways and forms of payments you can accept on your website. When considering which payment gateway is right for you, consider the per transaction fee as this may save you a dime or two daily.

If you’d like to start accepting payments with PayPal by selling goods and services on your Shopify website, take a look at PayPal’s fees and features first.

Why Should I Accept PayPal Payments on my Shopify Website?

PayPal is one of the most widely recognized and well known payment gateways. Ask any person and I am sure they’ll be able to tell you the colors of the PayPal logo that appears on thousands and thousands of checkout pages. Due to the trust and reliability of using PayPal, customers have confidence in using it to pay for goods and services.

The charge-back feature of PayPal allows customers to dispute any charges that they did not complete themselves. This option gives the customer confidence in purchasing from a website that they have not used previously.

While PayPal do charge transaction fees, just like any other payment gateway, these fees are kept to a minimum due to the extensive customer base.

What Payment Gateways Can be Integrated with Shopify?

If PayPal is not for you, the good news is a range of different payment gateways and payment forms are accepted with Shopify.

For example, if you are located in the United States, you can accept the following means of payment on your Shopify website:

Adyen

Affirm

Afterpay

Alipay

Amazon Pay

Asiabill

Authorize.net

Bambora

BitPay

Cartão de Crédito e Boleto via EBANX

Cartão de Crédito em até 12x via EBANX

Cayan

Chase Paymentech (Orbital)

Coinbase Commerce

CyberSource

Divido

Elavon Converge

First Data Payeezy

FirstData US

G2A Pay

GoCoin

Ignite Payments

Kash Direct Debit

Merchant e-Solutions

MONEI

Pay Later with Klarna

PayBright

Payment Express

PayPal Express Checkout

PayPal Pay-flow Pro

Paysafe

PinwheelPay

Psigate

QuickBooks Payments

Sage Payment Solutions

Sezzle

Shopify Payments

Skrill

Slice it. Pay over time with Klarna

Vantiv (Litle Platform)

Vantiv Integrated Payments

WorldPay (Direct)

As you can see, when you have a Shopify website, the means of payments are extensive and allow you to connect to a global customer base. While the payment gateways you can use on your Shopify website vary from one country to another, PayPal can be used in 200 countries/regions around the world.

Overview: Accepting PayPal Payments with Shopify

Don’t stress, due to Shopify’s integration with PayPal, accepting payments from customers can be achieved in a number of minutes. In fact, when you create a Shopify store, a PayPal Express Checkout is automatically created using the specified email of your website. PayPal is a default Shopify payment provider. While this works for the majority of users, if you have a number of email addresses, you may need to create a new PayPal account with the email you specified when creating Shopify. Alternatively you can add this additional address to your existing PayPal account.

If your primary PayPal address is different to the email address you used when creating Shopify, easily rectify the issue by adding the new email address to your existing account.

Once you’ve gone ahead and made sure that you have a PayPal account with the same address that you used when creating your Shopify website, you can start accepting payments for goods and services. Sounds easy, right?

While you can begin to accept payments there is one catch, if you’d like to manually capture payments or issue any refunds you’ll need to give Shopify permission from your PayPal account. See the next section on how to thoroughly set up PayPal with Shopify.

Adding PayPal to Shopify

Video Tutorial: How to Offer PayPal on a Shopify Website

Written Tutorial: How to Add PayPal to Your Shopify Website

Above we discussed how PayPal is automatically added when creating a Shopify website. If you will be using PayPal as your main payment gateway, you should set it up thoroughly so that in the future refunds can be issued if needed.

Step 1) Ensure you have created a Shopify Account and a PayPal Account. Step 2) Log into your Shopify admin dashboard, and in the far left corner click on the ‘Settings Tog‘.

Step 3) Now click on the ‘Payment Providers‘ button. Step 4) You will see a ‘PayPal section‘. You will need to click the ‘Edit‘ button.

Step 5) Click the deactivate button. Confirm deactivation. We will need to deactivate the PayPal account so that we configure it correctly and easily allow Shopify access so that in future we can issue refunds.

Step 6) Now in the PayPal section, go ahead and ‘Activate’ your PayPal account. You will need to enter your password as well. If you would like to change the PayPal address to use a different PayPal account to accept Shopify Payments, it’s at this stage that the email can be edited. If you are logged into your PayPal account within the same browser, it will already select that PayPal account so you will only need to click ‘Grant Permission’. Step 7) You will see a ‘PayPal Permissions Page’. You will need to click ‘I Give Permission’ to allow for a complete PayPal/Shopify integration to occur.

Step 8) Once you have completed the set up, complete a PayPal Test Transaction to ensure everything is working correctly. (Test transactions can only be completed once your store has been launched and is not in the free trial period).

The post Step by Step Integration of PayPal with Shopify appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.

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Stripe Payment Gateway Beginner Video Tutorials

Looking at using Stripe to accept payments for goods and services on your website? You’ve landed on the perfect documentation to get you started. 

Our collection of Stripe related tutorials for beginners will better your understanding of the Payment Gateway and will help you set it up on your website. Once you have viewed the collection of videos on this page, ‘A Beginners Guide to Stripe’, the following questions will have been answered:

What is Stripe?

What are the Fees and Features of Stripe?

How Can my Customers Checkout with Stripe?

How Can I Test my Stripe Checkout?

What are the Competitors of Stripe?

Which Cards Can be Used with Stripe?

Stripe Beginner Video Tutorials

1) What is Stripe?

Wondering the basics about Stripe? Why people choose to use it and why people decide against using it? In this video tutorial we’ll define Stripe and reasons why it may be right for your eCommerce project.

2) What are the Fees and Features Associated with Stripe?

Wondering what fees and features are related with Stripe? Curious to see how much Stripe will charge your company on a per transaction basis? The following video explains all this and more.

3) The Stripe Checkout Process

Wondering how your customers will check out with Stripe? The following video outlines the checkout process for a customer using Stripe.

4) Testing the Stripe Checkout Process

Wondering how you can test that your Stripe checkout is working on your website? The following video shows how to use Stripe Test cards to test the transaction process.

5) Who are Stripe’s Competitors?

Not sold on the Stripe payment gateway? Wondering what other payment gateways are available? In the following video we look at competitors of Stripe.

6) Which Cards Are Accepted by Stripe?

Do you have a diverse range of customers coming to your website? The following video outlines which cards and payment methods can be accepted with Stripe.

If you’ve decided that Stripe is the perfect payment platform for your website, checkout our WordPress Stripe Payments Plugin. Using this plugin will allow you to accept credit card payments for goods or services, physical or digital with ease. 

Stripe Payment Gateway Beginner Video Tutorials shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

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Stripe Payment Gateway Beginner Video Tutorials

Looking at using Stripe to accept payments for goods and services on your website?

Our collection of Stripe related tutorials for beginners will get you started. In this documentation you can find videos outlining the following aspects of using Stripe for online payments:

What is Stripe?

What are the Fees and Features of Stripe?

How Can my Customers Checkout with Stripe?

How Can I Test my Stripe Checkout?

What are the Competitors of Stripe?

Which Cards Can be Used with Stripe?

1) What is Stripe?

Wondering the basics about Stripe? Why people choose to use it and why people decide against using it? In this video tutorial we’ll define Stripe and reasons why it may be right for your eCommerce project.

2) What are the Fees and Features Associated with Stripe?

Wondering what fees and features are related with Stripe? Curious to see how much Stripe will charge your company on a per transaction basis? The following video explains all this and more.

3) The Stripe Checkout Process

Wondering how your customers will check out with Stripe? The following video outlines the checkout process for a customer using Stripe.

4) Testing the Stripe Checkout Process

Wondering how you can test that your Stripe checkout is working on your website? The following video shows how to use Stripe Test cards to test the transaction process.

5) Who are Stripe’s Competitors?

Not sold on the Stripe payment gateway? Wondering what other payment gateways are available? In the following video we look at competitors of Stripe.

6) Which Cards Are Accepted by Stripe?

Do you have a diverse range of customers coming to your website? The following video outlines which cards and payment methods can be accepted with Stripe.

If you’ve decided that Stripe is the perfect payment platform for your website, checkout our WordPress Stripe Payments Plugin. Using this plugin will allow you to accept credit card payments for goods or services, physical or digital with ease. 

Stripe Payment Gateway Beginner Video Tutorials shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

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35 eCommerce Growth Hacks

Hi, and welcome to the March 2019 blog post here on AidanBooth.com!

This month I’m sharing 35 eCommerce Growth Hacks, and content comes courtesy of Online Marketing Classroom (OMC), the membership program Steve and I run (which Steve started way back in 2008).

OMC is built around six core pillars:

In addition to updating our members with new content and strategies every month, we also provide exclusive access to custom in-house tools, special discounts, and are involved every day in the OMC community.

We’re incredibly proud of what OMC has become over the past 11 years. To find out more, go here: https://onlinemarketingclassroom.com

Now, on to this month’s content!

The content today is aimed at helping eCommerce stores perform better. We’ve got 35 different tactics for you to consider, and implementing even just a few of them could result in huge gains for your business, or be the difference between success and failure.

The tactics below add to one another, and the synergy helps your business scale in a way not possible with just a single marketing method. This is about taking an asset you already have and turning it into something much more valuable (and profitable).

With that in mind, let’s jump right in…

1. Encourage User Generated Content

86% of millennials report User Generated Content indicates brand quality. Before making a purchase, 68% of users age 18 – 24 take the social media presence of the brand into consideration. ComScore reports the ROI as very high, with brand engagement rising by 28% when user-generated content is combined with brand marketing.

User Generated Content is as it sounds; any sort of content that’s created by users (customers/fans/etc). This may be photos, videos, blog posts, social media posts and so on. The important thing is that it’s created about the brand by someone other than the brand. It’s a 3rd party endorsement.

How to get it?

The best way is by incentivizing customers with some type of reward, such as cash, gift cards, products or simply exposure on your Brand’s website, fan page or in the newsletter.

Run a contest where customers post pictures of themselves using the product to their social media pages with a specific hashtag you specify. Winners can be drawn randomly or chosen by other users.

Sometimes you don’t even have to offer an incentive, you can just ask. Yoga brand Lululemon ran a campaign with hashtag #thesweatlife, asking customers to post pictures of themselves “getting their sweat on”. 7,000 photos were collected in only a couple of months, and the page they created at #sweatlife got 40,000+ visits.

2. Launch Stores on Multiple Platforms (eBay & Facebook)

Once your primary eCommerce store is up and running, you can expand fairly easily by using your existing images and product copy to set up shop on other marketplace platforms such as eBay and Facebook. As of this writing there are 168 million active buyers on eBay and Facebook marketplace is used by 800 million people monthly.

Selling on these platforms doesn’t require you to send inventory to their warehouse. You only need to put a few additional logistics in place to handle fulfillment, making this a fast method to bring massive revenue growth.

These plugins and resources will help:

Shopify eBay Plugin

Woocommerce eBay Plugin

BigCommerce eBay Plugin

Shopify Facebook – Accepting applications for integration HERE

BigCommerce Facebook Marketplace plugin

3. Tap Into The Massive Reddit Community

Reddit users are notorious for hating marketers… which is actually good news.

Every so often a business owner “cracks the code” to gaining trust in the Reddit community and is rewarded with the “blue ocean” that exists there (very little to no competition, but lots of opportunity).

Reddit is the 7th highest trafficked site on the internet. There are 234 million unique users, and it gets 8 billion page views a month. This is a community that rewards you with intense loyalty and lots of sales when you tap into it properly.

The key is to take the time and effort to establish yourself as a trusted community member first. You gain “karma points” on your profile as you contribute value and get upvotes. With enough upvotes, and some emotional intelligence, you can then make useful recommendations that get people over to your website.

That does not mean you suddenly switch from helpful community member into hype-filled marketer. Reddit users hate clickbait and anything that sounds scammy. To get results, be completely genuine and recommend products in the same way you would as if speaking to a personal friend in real life.

4. Incentivize Shoppers with Rewards Programs

Credit card companies have known for quite some time the power of rewards to get cardholders spending as much as possible. Other industries are starting to see the benefits of incorporating this as well, and several apps have been created to execute this on eCommerce shopping platforms.

Shoppers will often buy just to get a reward, and this works to your favor not just on initial purchases but for gaining repeat business as well. People don’t want to “lose” points they’ve already earned, so when conflicted between two similar stores, they’ll usually choose the one they have points at already.

As for incentives, the tried and true “punch card” method where each purchase brings them closer to the reward is just as effective as ever.

Another option is to offer cash rewards (ie $10 cash back for every $100 spent) or points good toward store credit or gift cards.

There are many apps on the marketplace that make it easy to set up Rewards programs for customers.

Below are the highest rated apps for:

Shopify

BigCommerce

5. Automate Social Posting

Why is it that some businesses get huge traction and sales from social media and others don’t, even when they’re in the same industry?

A survey conducted with social media users found that consistency is a major component of what causes a person to follow a brand or not. Frequency is also important. The more often you’re in front of your target demographic, the more memorable and trusted your brand is.

The problem is it takes time to come up with content and post it every day. It’s difficult to maintain when you have so many other daily tasks.

That’s why it’s best to batch your social media content creation and get it all set up in advance so that it’s automatically posting on a regular schedule.

Social media automation tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite are useful to schedule all the content in advance.

6. Customize Website for International Shoppers

If you’re able to ship internationally, your conversions will get a major boost from having a version of your website specifically for users of that country.

This is obviously even more important if they speak a different language. Rather than using a browser extension to translate the site and trying to figure out if the item they want really does ship to their location, users immediately feel confident they can purchase from you.

You can use a translation service like Gengo for the text on your website, or post a translation job on Upwork.

Then implement a tool on your website that detects users’ location and automatically displays the correct version:

For Shopify: https://apps.shopify.com/geolocation-redirect

For BigCommerce: https://geotargetly.com/geo-redirect

You’ll want to display prices in the local currency as well, which can be done with an app:

Shopify & BigCommerce Multi-Currency

7. Grow Profits Over Time From Continuous Split Testing

An A/B test, also called a split test, is showing 50% of your website visitors one version of a webpage and the other 50% an alternate version where something has been changed, then measuring to see which has a higher conversion rate.

The aim of an A/B test is to bring you more revenue from the same amount of traffic, by increasing the conversion rate of your product pages, checkout process and other assets in the sales funnel. Doing this can open opportunities to acquire customers you previously weren’t able to because the cost was prohibitive. Or, it can simply increase your profit margin.

Although you will build your website with the goal of optimizing it for a high conversion rate off the bat, there are some things you can’t be sure are producing the highest conversion rate possible until you test it. For some businesses, they’re surprised at the winning variable in a split test because all the “experts” told them a different format was better.

Not only that, but the online world is constantly evolving. What worked well a few years (or even a few months) ago may be a conversion-killer now. If you’re continually testing, you’ll gain the edge over competitors who aren’t willing to invest the time.

You’ll get the most benefit from split testing:

The offer

Headline text

The call-to-action

Buttons – the shape, color, size

Images

Videos

Testimonials

Bullets and other body copy

Other social proof elements such as certificates, security badges, partner logos, etc.

The navigation options – sometimes having no or few navigational elements increases conversion by keeping people focused on the offer, other times sales go up when visitors have easy access to review other pages on the website before purchasing.

The checkout process – many sales are lost during checkout, so it’s wise to put a lot of focus on optimizing here.

8. Create a Personality For Your Company

Although it’s always been true that consumers connect better with people than faceless corporations, it’s more important today than ever before. Whether or not a company seems genuine and authentic was recently found to be one of the major decision factors when purchasing.

This doesn’t necessarily mean your brand has to have an actual person as a brand representative for customers to connect with. That is one option, but it can be as simple as just making sure your brand itself has a personality.

Brand personality is expressed through the language you use in headlines, body copy, emails and social media content. It’s also expressed through colors, images, logos and so on.

For this reason, having a deep understanding of who your demographic is pays off in a big way. When a customer can relate to the personality traits they feel a brand has, it creates emotional connection and rapport.

9. Welcome Controversial Topics to Generate Discussion

Controversy brings a lot of attention, and attention brings a lot of sales.

There are risks to taking a stand on controversial topics of course, but if you know your audience well and are willing to lose a small percentage of followers, with the added benefit of higher loyalty from those remaining, then it can be well worth it.

Understanding your audience is crucial if you’re going to attempt this. You obviously wouldn’t build a following of animal lovers and then announce support of hunting. However, you can take a stand on important issues within the community, such as being against a particular pet behavior training method, bringing attention as well as loyalty from those with a similar view.

You can also tap into trending controversial topics using a playful method that’s not necessarily polarizing.

As long as you are brave enough, you can attract attention just by being a bit cheeky. Such as, in the middle of a heated political campaign, posting that both candidates would be in a better mood if they had used your company’s travel pillow on their flight. It may be cheesy, and you’ll likely get some snarky responses, but you won’t be complaining about the high open rates, shares, comments and sales that result.

10. Remind Shoppers of Wishlist Items via Email

Shoppers have a tendency to add items to their wishlist and then completely forget about them. Since keeping in touch with customers and subscribers often is important for top of mind awareness anyway, you have the dual benefit of having a reason to follow up that simultaneously is a sales oriented email.

If you use Shopify, there’s an app that automatically sends follow-up emails reminding shoppers of Wishlist items:

https://apps.shopify.com/wishlist-followup

11. Proactively Collect Product Reviews

Customers rarely leave product reviews on their own without a reminder. The exception is when they’re unhappy! That means you need to be proactive about gathering positive reviews, as they have a significant effect on sales. BrightLocal found that 85% of shoppers trust internet reviews as they would a personal recommendation.

To gather reviews, the most effective methods are by:

Including a product insert in the package that asks customers to leave a review, and include the URL where they can post it.

Sending an email reminder. Yotpo is a good app for automating this. A few weeks after a purchase, Yotpo automatically sends an email to customers asking them to rate/review. It even allows customers to write the review in an email response, which it then posts to the correct product listing.

Yotpo for Shopify: https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews Yotpo for BigCommerce: https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/yotpo-social-reviews

Consider the timing of your review reminders as far as how long it takes to process and deliver the product, and how much time the customer needs in order to use it and see results. You don’t want to ask someone for a review before they’ve even received or used the product.

12. Guest Post for Exposure

Guest posting is known as a popular method for gathering links that help your website rank in the search engines. However, if you connect with popular bloggers in your niche who have high engagement from their followers, you’ll see immediate traffic and sales from your guest posts.

Guestpost.com is a good place to connect with influencers. It helps you find websites in your niche that accept guest posts, keep track of where you’ve submitted posts, and includes email templates for cold  outreach to websites you’d like to be published on. It also provides tools for analyzing the stats of a website so you aren’t wasting time creating content for sites with low readership.

13. Use Live Chat to Close Sales

When a shopper can’t find an immediate answer to their questions, they often become frustrated and with alternative websites being only a few clicks away, it’s easy to lose potential customers to a competitor who has what they need.

79% of customers prefer live chat support over other channels because it’s the fastest option.

Adding live chat to your website makes shoppers feel like they’re in a ‘real’ store, able to get their questions answered by shop assistants.

You don’t have to be chained to your website 24/7 to implement this though. You can either set specific chat support hours, and/or use an app that allows you to answer questions from your cell phone.

SumoMe shared a live chat trick for gathering more leads while you’re away from the chat. They included an auto-response when not available to answer questions that said:

They found it was a highly effective way to collect email addresses compare to the default of asking the person to submit their inquiry into the chat box along with email address that you’ll respond to during normal support hours. Just the slight change in words significantly improved the number of leads collected.

We’ve analyzed the live chat options available to find those that integrate well with popular eCommerce platforms and are highly rated specifically by eCommerce store owners.

LiveChat provides great value for eCommerce entrepreneurs. They have a ticketing system, goal tracking, and thorough analytics. They integrate with the most popular shopping platforms, including Shopify and BigCommerce.

Tidio is another option, and has recently added several convenient features for Shopify stores such as automatically checking the status of an order, product availability and delivery locations. The satisfaction rate from Shopify users is higher than for BigCommerce, as these features are currently only available for Shopify stores.

Chatra is a good choice if you’re on a budget, as they have a free plan for solo entrepreneurs. The paid version allows for multiple support agents. It integrates with Slack, Google Analytics, and you can reply to support requests with the mobile app available on Android and iOS.

14. Wow Customers With Handwritten Thank You Cards

Sending personalized, handwritten thank you cards to customers is a huge satisfaction and loyalty booster that gets customers not only returning to buy again, but giving you free advertising by spreading the word to friends and family.

Donors Choose, a non-profit collecting donations for public school classroom projects, tried this method and were able to get 38% of donors returning to give a second donation. The donation amount also increased by an average of $41, resulting in an extra $3 million in donations per year.

Luckily you don’t need to write these cards yourself. You can use a service called Thankbot, which automates the writing and sending of (handwritten) cards for you.

15. Recapture Shoppers With Exit Intent Popups

It’s a fact in the online business world that most visitors to your website will leave without making a purchase. Since traffic can be expensive to obtain, you want to do everything possible to get the sale or at least contact info before losing the visitor.

The top priority location to focus on is checkout abandonment. These are not just random browsers you’re losing; they’re buyers. Adding an exit intent pop here with a discount coupon and satisfaction guarantee reminder is fast and easy to put in place, and will immediately start recouping sales for you.

An exit intent popup is triggered when the visitor takes an action that indicates they may close the page, such as rapid mouse movement toward the browser search bar or exit. This isn’t the same as the old school popups that appear ‘after’ a visitor closes the page.

The popular exit-intent popup software options on the market today are:

Bounce Breaker (created by Steve and I)

SumoMe

Bounce Exchange

Gleam

16. Personalize Homepage For a Conversion Boost

Amazon does a great job of personalizing the homepage; they’re a perfect example to model.

Your sales will definitely go up by using personalization that displays items similar to what someone has purchased or viewed previously. Reminding viewers of products they looked at previously but haven’t bought yet will get a certain percentage of visitors finalizing that purchase.

With the tools available today, you don’t need advanced coding skills to do this. You can use Evergage or Bunting to get it done without being tech savvy.

17. Make Use of FOMO to get Shoppers Buying Immediately

The fear of missing out on something is a strong psychological drive that repeatedly has been proven to get people to take an action rather than procrastinate.

The easiest method to create this in your marketing is by using scarcity in your sales funnel and other marketing creatives.

This can be done by displaying remaining inventory (“only 3 left”), executing a deadline where customers no longer get a discount or bonus after the timer runs out, and using social proof apps to show shoppers that other people are looking at the item and they may lose it if others buy it before they do.

Inventory Remaining Shopify app: https://apps.shopify.com/pressure-cooker

Countdown timer Shopify: https://apps.shopify.com/powr-countdown-timer

Countdown timer & low stock alert Bigcommerce: https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/countdown-cart/

Social proof urgency app for Shopify: https://apps.shopify.com/social-proof-urgency

18. Fix Browser Bugs & Incompatibilities

You could be losing many sales simply because your website either doesn’t display the formatting correctly on certain browsers, or has browser bugs.

One way to quickly spot issues is by going to your Google Analytics report at Audience > Technology > Browser & OS report.

Then, look for browsers that are converting at a lower rate than the others. You may see that IE 10 is converting 3% higher than IE 11, and Firefox 63 is converting higher than Firefox 60.

You can then use a tools such as BrowserStack, CrossBrowserTesting or Browserling to view your website in different browsers and see what the problem is.

Prioritize which to fix first based on the amount of missed revenue (usually highest traffic). Assume that the underperforming version would convert the same as the other and use that to estimate. This can also help you see if it’s worth paying a developer to fix the issue (it may take a few months to recoup the investment).

19. Optimize Input Fields on Checkout For Easy Ordering

Shopping is fun… until it’s time to fill out several lengthy forms. The longer a checkout process is, and the more fields a shopper has to enter, the higher likelihood they’ll abandon.

Make checkout quick and easy by minimizing the amount of information required to complete the order.

Also make use of autofill on forms where it’s allowed such as name, email, address, phone number and other fields that don’t pose any security or privacy threat.

20. Make Returns Easy

As much as people love shopping online, the inconvenience of paying return shipping or restocking fees if the product doesn’t meet expectations or isn’t the right fit is a bit nerve wracking. This fear can prevent purchases.

Do whatever you can to at least pay return shipping; it’s good business. If you can avoid restocking fees, that is best as well.

More than 50% of store shoppers will read the return policy before making a purchase, so be sure it’s easily accessible on all pages, as well as understandable and concise.

21. Satisfy Shoppers “Want it Now” Mentality With Fast Shipping

“Retailers should never underestimate the ‘want it now’ mentality. If customers know that they will receive goods quickly when they order, they’ll keep coming back.” Graham Charlton – Clickz Global

We’ve grown accustomed to getting whatever we want, and getting it fast. Slow shipping will deter customers nowadays. The faster you can get the customer their item, the easier you’ll win them over. It may eat into your margins a bit, but it will pay off.

This is possible even if you’re doing dropshipping. You can now find US suppliers on AliExpress, using a new search filter available:

22. Use Shipping Boxes to Promote Your Brand

There are numerous opportunities for your brand to be seen between the time it’s packaged and the time the customer opens it. For instance, sitting on the ground outside the recipient’s house, dorm room, or apartment. Posted on social media because customer’s pets are playing in the empty box. On top of the counter at FedEx waiting for pickup.

With a clever logo, tagline and website URL, this is an excellent free marketing technique that can bring in new customers.

23. Write a Solution-Focused SEO Title to Maximize Traffic

When someone types an inquiry into a search engine, they’re looking for a solution to something. Perhaps they’re just looking for a suit, but that suit is a solution to something they need. Their “problem” is they need to look dressed up for a particular occasion. By turning your headlines into solutions, you’ll get  searchers clicking over to your website instead of competitors:

24. Prove Popularity with Social Proof Apps

Let’s face it… when you see a crowd of people looking at something the natural urge is to look too.

When one restaurant is packed and the other empty, you assume the packed restaurant must be the best and go there.

On the internet you can showcase how popular your website and products are via social proof apps that simulate this experience by popping up a message to website visitors when another visitor subscribes or purchases a product.

Social proof apps such as https://useproof.com/ provide an average conversion lift of 10% and can be set up in 15 minutes or less.

25. Find and Fix Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is extremely common on eCommerce sites, mostly caused by:

Search Filter Combinations

Product Descriptions

Title Tags

You can utilize the free version of Screaming Frog software to identify duplicate content issues on your website.

26. Prevent Chargebacks

Chargebacks are very expensive and can be costing your business a lot of money. Not only do you lose the amount of the original purchase, but you have to pay a fee on top of that.

Most chargebacks happen either because customers don’t recognize the charge on their card, or because their card was stolen and used fraudulently.

Here’s how to combat these issues:

Make sure the name that appears on your customer’s bank statement matches the name of your brand/store. The more irrelevant the name appearing on their statement is to what your store sells, the more likely you’ll get a chargeback.

If you do any recurring billing, remind customers ‘before’ their recurring payment is charged. Remind them what name will appear on their bank statement as well.

Remind customers what name will appear on their bank statement on the order form, ‘and’ in the product receipt.

Provide exceptional customer service always, and solve unhappy customers problems quickly and thoroughly (make sure they’re happy before closing the ticket).

Learn how to spot fraud and review it immediately. If you get a fraud alert because an order came in with a different shipping address or name than the billing information, follow up on it and call the customer to verify if you have any suspicions about it.

27. Have a Professional Customer Support Desk in Place

Nothing makes customers more nervous than a “support system” consisting of a free email address with no ticket # or auto-reply confirming receipt of support inquiries. These little things can really make customers apprehensive and hurt your business.

It’s great to be a startup, but you want your customers to feel comfortable and happy with their shopping experience so you can grow. There are free and low-cost options available such as FreshDesk (Steve and I use this) that help you look professional even when on a budget.

28. Use Multiple Suppliers

Imagine one of your products is extremely popular and bringing you sales every day… then your supplier runs out of stock and you can’t sell anymore!

It’s good to have a backup supplier to keep the sales coming in and avoid stock-outs. Your profit margin may be a bit smaller as you won’t benefit from quantity discounts, but a sale at a lower profit is better than no sale at all (and better than causing frustration to customers who want the item and can’t get it).

It also makes sure YOU stay in business even if your supplier doesn’t.

29. Get in Front of Trends to Catch Big Sales Waves

Trendy products spike in sales quickly and die just as fast… if you aren’t in early, you miss out on the big money. However, doing the work to find the next hot product requires a lot of time and boring manual tasks.

Rather than spending hours researching and trying to figure out the next hot product on your own, you can use a tool like Trendosaur or Terrapeak to quickly spot what’s about to become popular, allowing you to get in before everyone else.

30. Easily Expand Product Line via Dropshipping

Having a vast product selection makes your company appear larger and provides you opportunity to gain additional sales via cross-selling and upselling.

eCommerce giant Amazon implemented dropshipping in 2011, and the dropshipped products made up 34% of sold merchandise that year.

Since sourcing your own product takes quite a bit of time, upfront capital and risk, you can add a selection of new products using the dropshipping method. Once one or more of those start selling a lot, you can then work to manufacture it on your own with the security of knowing in advance that it will sell.

31. Create Limited-Edition Bundles

Introduce true scarcity into your store to create an immediate surge of sales, tapping into FOMO and helping keep the reputation of your brand high by proving that limited really means limited.

Consumers are aware that urgency and advertisements of limited quantities are not always true. By adding limited-edition bundles that actually sell out and disappear, it keeps the rest of your scarcity and urgency elements (that may be on a recurring/resetting timer) effective.

32. Automate Tedious Time-Consuming Tasks

You can save dozens (even hundreds) of hours per month on repetitive tedious tasks by using apps such as Dropified, which allow you to:

Import products from AliExpress and other suppliers (1-Click Import Products to your Shopify, Commerce HQ or WooCommerce store. Directly import from sites AliExpress, AliBaba, eBay, Walmart, Costco, Wish, Etsy, SammyDress and many others.)

Easily create dynamic product descriptions

Edit images within the app

Quickly find suppliers who have e-packet shipping available

Automatically orders all bundled products together at the same time

Gives you access to a list of US product vendors. (For dropshippers selling in the US this helps you get products to your customers faster. The list includes 10,000 products that ship from the US.)

This particular app is unfortunately not available for BigCommerce, however there is a similar service that works on WooCommerce called ShopMaster.

33. Capture Lost Sales With Back in Stock Notifications

Very little annoys customers more than an item being out of stock… and they’ll usually just leave and order it elsewhere.

Luckily you can help combat stock-outs with the multiple suppliers tip offered earlier. However for those cases when you still can’t do anything about it, there is one thing you can do to potentially recapture the sale later. You can send an email to the person as soon as it’s back in stock again.

There’s an app called “Back In Stock”, which collects emails and sends automatic emails with an order button as soon as the item is restocked.

For Shopify: https://apps.shopify.com/back-in-stock

For BigCommerce: https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/instocknotify/

34. Push Notification + Abandoned Cart

The ultimate abandoned cart recovery tool is the push notification. It’s best to get acceptance for push notifications earlier in the shopping process by offering a coupon or other incentive to turn it on. Then, if they abandon their cart later, you can trigger the notification to appear directly on the desktop or mobile device.

35. Track Everything

Track more than you think you’ll need, because what you measure you can improve. Make improvements everywhere you can and watch your business grow exponentially.

It also helps keep your motivation up. If you can’t see what’s improving, you may have a false sense of not progressing – when you actually are improving. Keep in mind this doesn’t mean you need to monitor all stats every day (or even every week). It’ll feel good to look back after several months though, and see all the areas that have grown.

35 eCommerce Growth Hacks shared from AidanBooth.com

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Stripe Fees

You may have heard others mention the Stripe payment gateway before and how it can be used to accept credit card payments online. While Stripe is commonly used among developers, the every day business owner will tend to hear more about their leading competitor PayPal. While PayPal, another platform to accept payments online is a globally recognized icon, Stripe indeed offers competitive rates and some nifty features.

In this article our prime focus will be on the fees associated with using Stripe and why this platform may or may not be be right for your website. If you are stilling tossing up whether or not Stripe is the right payment gateway for your eCommerce site, take a look at how PayPal compares here.

How Do the Majority of Customers Like to Pay Online?

When choosing the right payment gateway for your website it is important to consider how the majority of your customers will prefer to pay for goods and services on your website. You may find the up and coming generations will much prefer to checkout with PayPal and using this is second knowledge. If you have an older customer base, credit card checkouts may be a preferred approach.

Statista completed a helpful comparison during 2017 that displayed credit cards as being the preferred payment method online. While using PayPal on your site does give customers the option to pay with card, they may bypass this option by simply not seeing it. Offering Stripe ensures you are presenting the customer with the most popular payment method first and foremost. This 2017 study is visually demonstrated below.

Preferred Online Retail Payment Methods Worldwide During 2017

Is Stripe Right for Your Business? – Stripe Fees and Features Uncovered

If you have an online-only business where you intend on selling to customers around the globe who wish to pay using their credit card, look no further than Stripe. If you have some developer knowledge, through the use of Stripe API’s, the eCommerce possibilities are endless. The best part about Stripe is that it is inexpensive compared to other payment gateways, especially for those companies who see almost one hundred thousand of sales a month. While developers with a world of knowledge can come up with their own solutions for integration with Stripe, starting with a base plugin to accept Stripe card payments makes the process as simple as can be.

Partnering up with an eCommerce plugin that has integrated with Stripe, such as our very own Stripe Payments Plugin, allows you to be accepting Stripe transactions from real life customers in no more than 30 minutes. The best part about the base plugin is that it is entirely free. This means that you’ll only need to pay Stripe transaction fees (mentioned below) and for any addons you wish to purchase.

So you may be wondering by now “What is the Catch?” and “What Fees are Associated With Using Stripe?”.

Stripe Fees Uncovered

US Stripe Transaction Fees are Visually Demonstrated Above

US Transaction Fees:

For a basic transaction, Stripe matches most of the leading competitors by charging 2.9% + 30 c per successful transaction for those holding an account in the United States. The way that Stripe differs from other payment gateways is the bulk discounts they offer for companies that are making over 80, 000 USD sales a month.

Stripe Monthly Fees:

Furthermore, Stripe does not charge any hidden monthly fees or set a monthly minimum. This ensures both small and large companies can use the platform. If you find that a charge back has occurred on your site, a $15.00 cost occurs although this amount is refundable if the issuing bank rules in your favor. This charge ensures Stripe is not out of pocket.

Fees for Non-for-Profit Companies:

Non-for-Profit companies can also receive reduced transaction fees by contacting Stripe directly to discuss. If Stripe deems that your company is non-for-profit, they will not charge you any fees for the first $15, 000 you make. This can save a NFP company almost $500.00 in fees.

Fees for International Transactions:

In terms of international card fees, you can expect to add 1% to the base transaction fee if your customer pays with an international card. If their currency also differs from the currency set within your account, you can expect to add another 1% to the transaction fee. This means you can expect to be charged up to 4.9% + 30c for an international transaction.

Further details on the fees and charges associated with Stripe can be viewed on their Pricing Page.

Stripe Fees Depending on Country in Which You Live

While most of the visitors reading this blog post will be from the United States where Stripe charges 2.9% + 30c per transactions, those wondering about charges for other countries can see some results below. The fees listed below generally refer to domestic card charges for those countries.

Country of Origin:

Stripe Fee Charged Per Transaction:

Australia

1.75% + 30 c

Canada

2.9% + 30 c

New Zealand

2.9% + 30 c

UK

1.4% + 20p

Ireland

1.4% + €0.25

USA

2.9% + 30 c

Stripe Features Uncovered

Stripe’s Security

The most note-able feature of Stripe is the fact that your customer’s data is never stored on your server. Instead the customers information is stored on Stripe’s server meaning that they are directly responsible for sensitive payment information. This means that your site is automatically PCI compliant, have increased website security and gives your customers further trust in you as a merchant.

Stripe’s Support

Recently Stripe introduced the much anticipated 24/7 phone support. This was a game changer for an online payment gateway and drew many new users to the Stripe platform. While their phone support is only available in English currently, you can receive email support in 6 different languages. Furthermore, Stripe has lots of free documentation for both web newbies and experienced developers.

Stripe’s API Feature

The API feature of Stripe is not only well documented but also extremely easy to use for developers. Stripe’s comprehensive testing tools and developer dashboard are just two of the API related features. Stripe to date has over 450 different platforms and extensions.

Leaving Stripe

If you ever decide that Stripe is not the right payment gateway for your website they’ll even help you migrate! They will help you transfer any credit card data in both a secure and PCI compliant way.

Stripe’s Easy to Use Dashboard

The dashboard of Stripe is user friendly for even those with no developer knowledge. From the dashboard you can create billing plans and respond to any disputes that have arose. The best part is, you can do this all from a mobile device app.

What Payment Sources are Accepted by Stripe?

While Stripe is commonly known for accepting credit cards, this is not the only way your customers can checkout with Stripe. The full list of accepted Stripe payment sources are listed below:

Credit / Debit Cards

International Cards

Amex

Masterpass

Visa

WeChat Pay

SEPA Direct Debit

ACH Credit and Debit

AliPay

Google Pay

Apple Pay

The fact that there are multiple payment methods that appeal to differing customers around the world, for instance AliPay in China, Stripe appeals to those wanting to sell to customers abroad. Furthermore, while PayPal only accepts 25 different currencies, Stripe has the ability to accept 135 different currencies.

Is Stripe Right for my Business?

We’ve compiled both the good and bad about Stripe so you can easily make a decision if this payment gateway is the right choice for you.

Stripe is Perfect for Business that:

Stripe is the Wrong Choice for Business that:

Process online credit card payments

Want to accept PayPal payments online.

Make a minimum of 80, 000 a year (Reduced fees apply for large companies).

Sell crypto currencies online, sell adult content and services along with items considered of the gambling nature. Find out which business cannot use Stripe here.

Are ran by developers with coding knowledge

Wish to incorporate features that are only offered by PayPal. Operate within one of the 32 countries supported by Stripe. Make sure that the customers you wish to sell with can actually complete a transaction on your site!

Operate outside of the 32 countries supported by Stripe.

Do not wish to store customer’s sensitive information on their site. All payment information is stored on Stripe’s own sever meaning they are responsible for any breaches.

Do not want to accept credit card payments on their site. Wish to integrate a payment gateway that does not display branding. Stripe is a plain Jane type of approach unlike PayPal, that has branding on each step of the checkout.

Wish to accept credit cards that are not within the support list mentioned below: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Discover and Diner Club Cards.

Don’t mind a delay in funds. All payments will hit your Stripe account within 2 days of the successful transaction.

Do not have an SSL certificate. Find out more about which hosting providers offer free SSL here. Wish to offer Apple Pay and Android Pay. Our Stripe Payments Addon allows you to easily accept Apple and Android Pay.

Want same day money in their account. PayPal tends to be faster at processing the money from the customer to the account.

Stripe Fees Summary

While the fees associated with Stripe are much similar to that of their competitors, the benefits for non-for-profit companies and businesses with large monthly sales make them stand out from the rest. If you have any notes you think we should add to this post, please let us know in the comments section below.

Stripe Fees shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

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PayPal Beginner Video Tutorials – A Guide for PayPal Beginners

Wondering How to Get Started with PayPal? Go no Further.

Our PayPal Beginner Video Tutorials will Walk You Through Each Step of the Way.

PayPal, a secure online payment processing system, is not only a simple platform to use but is also internationally recognized with 300 + million users globally.

Whether you are starting a small business, love online shopping or intend on selling some goods on a marketplace, PayPal will allow you to send and accept funds with ease. Being the most recognized name in online payments, offering PayPal on your website will provide customers with the assurance they need to make a purchase.

After watching our selection of tutorials on PayPal, you should be able to complete the following:

Create a Personal PayPal Account

Send Money from Your PayPal Account to Family, Friends, Employees and Sellers

Receive Money in Your PayPal Account

Withdraw Funds from Your PayPal Account

Update Your Linked Credit Card within PayPal

Transfer Money from Your Bank Account to PayPal

Delete or Close Your PayPal Account

Realize Why there is a Pending Payment in Your PayPal Account

Make a Mass Payment from your PayPal Account

Enable PDT and IPN for eCommerce and Membership Solutions

We’ll start by creating a personal PayPal account but once you’ve got a feel for the platform, taking the leap from a personal account to a business or premier account is simple.

Why PayPal?

The benefits of having a PayPal account seem to always outweigh the negatives of having one. Whether you intend on using your account daily, or just as a once off to send some money to a niece or nephew for their birthday, sending and receiving money with PayPal is hassle free.

Sending money with PayPal ensures you never reveal your bank details

Allows surety that money will reach its’ desired location

Money can be sent to over 100 different countries around the world

Sending money directly from one PayPal account to another is instant

Paying online is convenient

Allows one to accept multiple currency with low conversion fees

Low transaction Fees

Let’s Create a PayPal Account

You’ve agreed that PayPal is the right choice for you to accept and send money online. Now what?

We’ll start by creating our personal account. Once that’s done, keep following along with our beginners tutorials that’ll introduce you to further PayPal features.

If you are learning about PayPal with intentions to accept payments from customers on your website, our 10th and 11th video tutorials will help you enable PayPal IPN and PDT.

PayPal Beginner Video Tutorials

1. How to Create a Personal PayPal Account?

Watch the following short tutorial to help you set up your personal PayPal account.

2. How Can I Send Money from My PayPal Account?

Are you wanting to send money to your family, friends, employees or a seller? Watch the following tutorial to guide you as you send money from your PayPal account.

3. How Can I Receive Money in My PayPal Account?

Have you recently been sent money on PayPal? The following tutorial will show you where you can locate money in your PayPal account by transaction ID.

4. How Can I Withdraw Funds from My PayPal Account?

Do you need to withdraw money from PayPal into your bank account? Watch the following video to learn how.

5. How Can I Update My Linked PayPal Credit Card?

Have you been issued a new bank card? PayPal may have already notified you that you need to update your linked credit card. Watch the following tutorial to learn how you can easily update your linked PayPal credit card details.

6. How Can I Send Money from My Bank Account to PayPal?

Do you wish to have some PayPal funds to spend online? The following video demonstrates how money can be transferred from a bank account straight into a PayPal account.

7. How Can I Delete My PayPal Account?

Have you opened another PayPal account and wish to delete your old account? Watch the video below for instructions on how you can delete your PayPal account.

8. Why is There a Pending Payment in My PayPal Account?

Can you see a pending payment in your PayPal account? Find out what a pending payment is and when this payment will clear by watching the tutorial below.

9. How Can I Make a PayPal Mass Payment?

Do you have multiple employees that you wish to pay at once? Find out more about PayPal’s mass payment tool in the video below.

10. How Can I Enable PDT (Payment Data Transfer) in My PayPal Account?

Do you have a website where you need to enable PDT? See our demonstration below to find out how.

11. How Can I Enable IPN (Instant Payment Notification) in PayPal Account?

Are you using an eCommerce solution where PayPal IPN needs to be enabled? Watch out video below to find out how.

12. How Can I Re-Send a PayPal IPN Message?

The following video tutorial shows you how to resend the PayPal IPN message. This is useful if the original IPN message was missed (or blocked) for some reason and you need to resend it.

PayPal Beginner Video Tutorials – A Guide for PayPal Beginners shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

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Protected: 36 Books shared from AidanBooth.com

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How to Enable the PayPal PDT Feature

Payment Data Transfer – Basic Understanding of PDT

Before I explain in detail how you can enable PDT in your PayPal account, it is important to first understand what PDT is, and when it should be used.

While for most website owners reading this documentation, an extensive understanding of Payment Data Transfer (PDT) is not necessary, basic knowledge of this feature of the PayPal platform can allow you to understand what automated steps are taking place after a transaction.

What is PDT?

In short terms, PDT is a notification service that enables admin to show additional transaction details on their website. This feature allows the site to become more user friendly by displaying transaction details to the customer.

Payment Data Transfer, often referred to as “PDT” is a unique feature of the PayPal platform. PDT once enabled can send a notification after a payment that allows admin to display some transaction related details on their website. These transaction details can then be displayed in a ‘Thank you’ page or similar to demonstrate to the buyer that their payment has been confirmed.

Visual Demonstration of PDT Flow of Events

What Operations Does PDT Allow Admin to Carry Out? – The 3 Main Functions of PDT

While Payment Data Transfer is more commonly used to display some basic post payment information, there are a couple more advanced options that this feature allows for.

PDT Allows Admin to Securely Display Transaction Details to the Customer. The PDT feature sends transaction details to the merchants website that are then read by a script on the website. This script then displays the information in a user friendly way.

PDT Allows Admin to Automatically Supply the Customer with their Digital Products. Using PDT, the customer’s digital download link can be added to a thank you page or similar after a successful transaction. (for example: The PDT feature can be used in the eStore Plugin to automatically provide their customers with the digital product link immediately after the transaction).

PDT Allows Admin to Better Manage Inventory. The script of a plugin can be updated so that inventory is updated after a successful transaction. The PDT notification communicates with the script to ensure correct stock levels are displayed if an item or two has been purchased.

What is the Difference Between Instant Payment Notification (IPN) and Payment Data Transfer (PDT)?

If you are new to the eCommerce world, PayPal IPN and PayPal PDT may seem like similar functions of PayPal. While they are similar in the way they ‘notify’ the website in order to complete the next action, they have different scenarios in which each of them should be used. In the section below we will discuss what the differences between PayPal IPN and PayPal PDT are, and when each of them should be used.

PayPal PDT vs PayPal IPN

PDT sends a prompt notification message after the payment is complete. This means that if you are running a site where an immediate payment notification is to be shown, PDT is the best choice for you. On the other hand, while IPN does send a notification to the merchants website, there is a material lag from the time the payment is completed and the time the notification is sent. IPN is not timely enough for functions such as immediate digital download after payment.

While it may seem that PDT is definitely the better choice, it does have it’s disadvantages. While it is faster, the notification sent out by PDT only happens once and once only! This means that if for some reason your site goes down for a couple seconds, the notification will be lost. IPN on the other hand continuously sends messages until the website acknowledges that the message has been received. This is why PayPal often recommends IPN over PDT when it is crucial that the message is received.

Furthermore, IPN can send multiple messages such as charge back notification and order confirmations while PDT is only useful for order confirmations. For the most part, as a user of a eCommerce solution you will not have to fully understand IPN and PDT (more just how to enable these features), having a basic understanding can help if you ever need to troubleshoot.

PDT vs IPN 

Payment Data Transfer (PDT) Instant Payment Notification (IPN)

Speed of Notification

Almost Instant

Tends to Lag (slower than PDT)

Number of Notification Attempts

Notification is Sent Once (1)

Notification is Sent Until the Site Acknowledges that it has Been Received

Notifications Sent

Order Confirmations

Charge-back Notifications

Order Confirmations

How Can I Enable PDT in my PayPal Account?

Some plugins require you to enable PDT in your PayPal account for post payment features. If you have found yourself needing to understand how to enable Payment Data Transfer, the following section will guide you in doing so.

Video Tutorial: Enabling PayPal PDT and Locating PDT Identity Token

Written Instructions: Enabling PayPal PDT and Locating Identity Token

Step 1) Log in to your PayPal account.

Step 2) Ensure you have a PayPal Business account. You can confirm this by logging into your account and clicking on the Account Settings menu. Your account type will  need to be either a Business or Premier account to be able to enable PDT. If you have a personal account and wish to upgrade to a business account find out how here.

Step 3) Click on the Settings Tog in the right-hand corner of your PayPal account. This will take you to the My Profile page.

Step 4) Click on the Selling Tools menu. Under the Selling Online section, click the Update button across from Website Preferences.

Step 5) Enable Auto-return by marking the ‘check circle’. Specify the return URL where your customer should be sent after their payment. This should be your ‘Thank You’ page or similar.

Step 6) Scroll down on the Website Payment Preferences page and ensure that Payment Data Transfer is On. This is indicated by a marked ‘check circle’.

Step 7) Your Identity Token for Payment Data Transfer (PDT) can be found in the Payment Data Transfer section. Copy your identity token and paste it into the required PDT field of the eCommerce plugin you are using. You should not share this token with anyone else other than site admins. Saving this identity token in the notepad on your computer can save time if you need this for another plugin in the near future.

Step 8) Exit your PayPal and set up the rest of the plugin you are using. Complete test transactions and ensure the PDT functions are working correctly on your site.

How to Enable the PayPal PDT Feature shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

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How to Make Money on YouTube

The majority of us online writers and retailers know the importance of sprinkling Adsense throughout our blogs, but many underestimate the amount of revenue that can be earned from advertising through video content. YouTube, a vastly known video sharing platform allows for a number of ways of making revenue for those posting popular content. Whether you have your own website where you sell products or you wish to earn an affiliate commission through pushing other products, YouTube is the perfect platform to market goods and services.

So you may now be asking yourself, ‘How Can I Make Money Through Youtube?‘.

There is no short answer to this question. The amount of revenue that can be earned through the YouTube platform ultimately depends on whether you are selling the item yourself or if are happy to display YouTube approved advertisements. If you are looking for a way to market your own goods and services, linking your products page within the YouTube video description will draw attention to your site and in turn, possibly sales. If you have a handful of popular You tube videos and do not intend on selling an item yourself, YouTube advertisements can earn you some additional income.

If you already have an established YouTube channel, or plan on creating one with the intent to monetize your content, our tips and tricks below will help you to get started.

Make Money on YouTube by Promoting Products/Services from Within Your Video

Make Money through a YouTube Partnership

Make Money by Advertising Your Product Page within the YouTube Video Description

Make Money on YouTube Through Teespring

Make Money Through Crowdfunding your YouTube Content

Make Money Through Fan Funding Donations

Make Money through Affiliate YouTube Content

Why Advertise on YouTube?

YouTube is the largest video sharing platform on the net with:

More than 100 hours of videos uploaded per minute

Videos that accommodate for 75 different languages spoken worldwide

YouTube viewers spending approximately 25 minutes a day watching content

How Much Money Can be Made through YouTube?

If you are intending on primarily making money by displaying YouTube advertisements on your videos, then you can expect to make an income that is relative to the traffic your content receives.

While we often hear about the minority making big money from their YouTube video/s going viral, the reality is not all content producer can make this sort of money through advertisements. A rough figure to expect when you have constant traffic to your channel is; $1.50 USD for every 1000 views. This means that you would need one million views to make $1500. Before you go ahead and quit your day job, ensure you have a broad following, you are willing to continuously provide new and exciting content and have additional sources of income in the case that your following diminishes over time.

“It’s important to analyze changes in revenue over time as you grow your channel. Many factors go into earning money on YouTube like: how many views and how much watch time your videos get, the ad formats you have enabled, what the demographics are of your audience, what device viewers are watching on, and if your content is advertiser friendly.” – YouTube.

Real People – Real Youtube Money

With a genuine following and consistently good content, you can make somewhat of a living from advertising on YouTube. While for the majority of ‘YouTubers’ the money made through advertising is not enough to quit their job, for some lucky vloggers it is.

Take Michelle Phan for example. A young woman with a passion for makeup who shared her love through video tutorials. Due to the amount of consistent views of her tutorials on YouTube, Michelle takes home $145,000 USD a year.

Another great example of an outstanding amount of money made through the platform is Korean pop star Psy. His ‘Gangnam Style’ video has made over 10 million dollars for him since it was first released in 2014. This video was ranked as one of the highest watched videos on the YouTube platform with over 2 billions views.

While earning a 6 figure income or more from sharing your love through videos sounds like everyone’s cup of tea, it is always important to be rational and realistic. A recent study has found that within the top 3% of the highest earning vloggers, they actually only take home $12,000 USD annually, and that is definitely not enough to live off!

Advertising to Your Viewers (Without Being ‘Pushy’)

When a viewer presses the play button to watch a video on YouTube, unless they are a premium customer they will often expect to see some advertisements. Advertisements in today’s society tend to spring up in every direction- even on our Facebook news feed.

Due to the expectation of seeing advertisements when enjoying YouTube content, many viewers do not relate in-video ads to you directly as the content producer. This means that you can still earn an income without the need to be pushy.

If you have a product page you wish to promote to your viewers, our advise is to do it discreetly. For instance, using the Teespring integration mentioned below is a great way to advertise merchandise. There is no need to have ‘tacky’ advertisements throughout your video to promote the goods or services you offer. Another way to advertise a product is to have a video that ‘uses’ the product. For instance, a make up brush cleaner may be used within a makeup tutorial. Only ever advertise products that fit the video content.

Subtly displaying your product page URL in your YouTube description, mentioning your domain within a demonstration video or using an integration merchandise service is often enough to promote your products successfully to your viewers. Creating an honest and genuine channel where your subscribers are happy to fund you whether that be by buying a tee-shirt or making a donation is always the best way to earn revenue.

Here are some points to consider when advertising to your viewers:

Always be genuine – Your viewers will be able to determine if you are passionate about your channel or not

Always use Clarity – Outline what the link is that the viewer will be clicking on and the products/services that you offer

Time and Place – Always consider if it is the right time and place to advertise a specific product or service

Attempt to be Helpful – It makes the most sense to push products and services that relate directly to the video content

How Can I Advertise on my YouTube Channel?

1) Selling Products Through YouTube Videos

If you plan on advertising your own products or services from within your YouTube videos, first and foremost you should make sure they are well-timed. At the end of a YouTube video you can add ‘cards’ where you can link to a page where you product is available. These cards tend to be eye-catching and have a call to action button. You can choose at what stage of your video the YouTube card is displayed. Showing them towards the end of the video can come across as less pushy to your audience.

Another idea is to mention that if the viewer has liked the product/service you have used in your video, that they can check out your shop page (displayed in the description below).

2) Making Money Through a YouTube Partnership

If you have an established YouTube channel, making money quickly is actually a possibility. A YouTube Partnership basically means that YouTube will advertise for large companies on your videos and share a cut with you.

To be eligible for a partnership with YouTube you must be living in an a country where YouTube partnerships are available, have had 4, 000 hours of views in the previous 12 months, currently have over 1, 000 subscribers and have an approved Adsense account. If you believe that your YouTube account meets those requirements, advertising to earn an income is actually quite simple.

How can I be Paid for Advertisements on my YouTube Content?

Follow the instructions below to enable monetization

Ensure that your YouTube account meets the requirements mentioned above.

Log in to your YouTube account and enter the Creator Studio. Select “Channel > Status and features” from the left menu.

Under “Monetization”, click Enable.

Sign up to Adsense to be able to earn money from your YouTube content.

Wait for your YouTube advertisement to be reviewed. You will be notified whether or not your account has been approved or denied.

3) Advertising Products from the YouTube Video Description

Do you have a handful of products that you sell on a stand alone site? If you have a product page on your website, you can advertise this page within your YouTube video description.

Having your own website where you sell fan merchandise allows you full control of adding products, up-selling and offering discounts opposed to marketplace selling. While marketplace selling such as using Teespring works great for those vloggers selling only a handful of items a year, having your own website where you direct your YouTube traffic gives you so many more opportunities. Dedicated websites work great if your fan base is already buying similar products that you mention in your videos such as hair extensions or handy men tools. Why not try selling some of these items yourself?

Once you set up your website shop page, you can sneak that URL into your YouTube video description (for the videos it makes sense). Adding another sentence letting your viewers know what is sold from that page is also a good idea. Being transparent will give your viewers the confidence to click the link to your product page. From there your shop page will need to do the work to convince your browsers to become buyers.

Learn how to create a basic WordPress shop page.

4) Integration with Teespring to Sell Merchandise or Similar

A recent integration with Teespring allows those with YouTube channels to advertise merchandise beneath their content. This can be specific to the content you post meaning that the conversion rates are much higher than a generic product page link.

Up to 12 products can be advertised under any given video, with the most popular showing first (unless their is a new item that has been added in the previous 10 days). If you please, as admin you can specify which of the products will be shown first, second, third and forth.

Teespring allows you to advertise merchandise to those viewing the video from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Australia and the United States. This means that if you find the majority of your viewers to be from a country other than one states previously, it is important to still add a link to your product page in the video description.

Navigate to your YouTube Studio Beta and click on the Monetization menu.

Click on the Merchandise menu and then on ‘See More’.

Click the Get Started button and then on Get Teespring ID.

Create a Teespring account.

Finalize the connection by copying your Teespring Store ID into your YouTube Studio Beta.

List your items through Teespring and decide how they should be displayed beneath your YouTube video content.

Find out more about setting up Teespring on your YouTube channel to increase revenue here. 

5) Use “Crowdfunding” to Raise Capital for Your Projects

Crowdfunding on YouTube is used regularly by content creators to collect tips and donations from viewers. This allows them to be paid for the time they spend creating content that their viewers love and enjoy on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. YouTube has integrations with a number of websites that are specifically for crowd funding donations. If crowdfunding sounds like an option for your channel, you can view the list of accepted crowdfunding sites here. It is important to note, that these sites generally take a cut of the donation. While this is often a small cut for using their platform to accept tips, it is always something to consider. Before signing up to a crowdfunding website, way up if it is worth it or if you are better to create your own website and implement a donation button.

Patreon is among the most popular accepted YouTube crowdfunding platforms. This may work as a solution for your YouTube channel as it signs up viewers as subscribers for as little as $1.00 a month. Kickstarter, another Crowdfunding platform has also gained traction in recent years by young YouTube entrepreneurs.

When Should I Crowdfund my YouTube Channel?

If you need to buy better equipment to continue to produce great content

If you believe your subscribers will fund your channel for you as a part time job

If you need to hire additional help

If you have miscellaneous production costs

6) Take a Fan Funding Approach to Earn a Profit

Do you have a large amount of subscribers on your channel or are genuinely interested in the content you post? If so, a fan funding approach where vloggers kindly ask their fans to donate to their channel may work out for you.

If you feel comfortable with asking your subscribers to fund your channel, could ask for a donation from the description of your video by dropping the URL of your website page where you have set up a donation button. While the majority of your subscribers will not donate, the minority may if they are very passionate about you as a person and the video content you produce. If you are posting unique content that generally helps you viewers in some way, they may be happier to part with their spare change online. If your audience is engaging constantly with your channel, their is not harm in asking for small donations.

If you are a beginner to this whole website world and have some how fallen on your feet with a highly subscribed YouTube channel you may be wondering how you can create a donation button on your site. There are many (free) plugins that will allow you to create a simple payment button. If you wish to collect donations through PayPal, the PayPal Donations Plugin may be the right fit for your site. This plugin is completely free and allows you to create a nice little button which your visitors can click on to donate to your cause; in this case your YouTube channel.

Use the PayPal Donation Plugin to Accept Fan Funding

Recently YouTube has introduced some fan funding methods of their own that allow vloggers to collect payments from their viewers without needing to leave the site. A live chat platform called Super Chat, released by YouTube allows followers to pay an amount of their choosing to chat with the content producer.

7) Become an Influencer or Affiliate to Earn an Income

A YouTube ‘Influencer’ is paid in money and/or goods/services to create YouTube videos that promote the companies products or services. This is a new way of advertising and is becoming increasingly popular during the next decade. You may be wondering why ‘influencer advertising’ is increasingly popular? Those influencers, through either social media platforms or vlogging have earned the trust and respect of their following. This means their following is much more likely to trust the products/services that they advertise. This in turn means higher conversion rates for the large company wishing to push their products.

Generally those vloggers with 10,000 or more user engagements will attract companies to pay them to advertise. If you already have an established YouTube channel, or you have a large following on social media platforms, becoming an influencer or affiliate of a large company can allow you to earn money while test driving some products that may interest you. If you do decide to go down the influencer path to earn an income, ensure you only advertise items that are a fit with your current channel. Being honest and genuine when advertising will ensure you do not loose subscribers in the process.

Tips to consider when becoming a YouTube Influencer:

Set a minimum base rate that you will advertise for on your channel

Ensure the product/service you will be an influencer for is the right fit for your channel

An influencer will charge generally between $200.00 and $1000.00 per video that advertises a product/service

Browse some influencer marketplaces to find a company who will be the right fit for your channel

Editing my Product Page to Appeal to my YouTube Audience

You’ve successfully directed your YouTube viewers to your website’s product page. Nice work! But what now?

While ensuring a number of your YouTube viewers visit your product page is definitely an achievement, a better achievement is turning the visitors into customers of your site. Have a look at our questionnaire below to ensure your product page is up to scratch for those visiting from the YouTube platform:

Am I Using a Recognized Payment Platform?  Yes – Move onto (2.) No – Read about PayPal and Stripe.

Can I Easily Collect and Dispatch Physical or Digital Products? Yes – Move onto (3.) No – If you are using WordPress, checkout the WP eStore Plugin for accepting and managing payments. If you are not using WordPress read about Alternative eCommerce Solutions.

Is my Product Page Converting? Yes – Move onto (4.) No – Read about Improving Your Product Page.

Am I Up-selling to My Customers? Yes. No – Find out how to discretely up/cross sell to your customers.

If you do not have a product or service to offer your subscribers, why not direct them to a website all about your channel. If you have enabled ‘Adsense’ on your website, all traffic is good traffic.

Conclusion

With hard work, consistent content creation and dedication; YouTube can be a great way to make some side income. However remember earning a full time income on YouTube is hard and takes a lot of work, time and research. Be mindful that success stories are always the ones in the media but there are many people that fail or make very little income from YouTube.

How to Make Money on YouTube shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

[aileenmbatts]

How to Password Protect your WordPress Pages or Posts

Whether you wish to password protect a page, a post or all your text editor content that you publish on your WordPress website, this tutorial will help you do so.

WordPress is primarily a platform used to share content, and in turn it comes with some useful editor tools. Below we will take a look at the inbuilt post password protection feature of WordPress along with the option to introduce a membership plugin to further lock down a website.

Video Tutorial: Password Protect WordPress Post/Page

What is Password Protection?

Password protection basically means that the correct password will need to be entered by a user on the post or page to be given access to the content. This allows admin to ‘hide’ sensitive information from those that shouldn’t have access to it. Providing users who should have access to the information with a basic password then allows them to easily enter the numerals and digits to view the content.

Whenever you add a new post or page on your WordPress site, the visibility is set to ‘Public‘. This means that anyone searching the web can read your content. This is great for those wishing to draw in as many readers as possible in hopes of making some ad commissions.

For those who wish to share sensitive content with only specific readers, the good news is, WordPress also offers a password protection feature. This is a basic feature that comes within all WordPress installs.

Why do Admin Choose to Password Protect their Content?

Protecting blog content can be achieved in a variety of ways in which we will discuss later in this tutorial. There are a number of reasons admin choose to password protect either a page or a post. Some admins may password protect for privacy issues, for example if their brilliant idea has not yet been patented or approved. Others choose to offer their pages exclusivity to friends or better yet, paid customers and the password protect feature allows them to do so. Following on from these reasons, sensitive content, special event information, education material and restricted sales information are often password protected.

The password protection feature works a treat for many sites as long as the password is not shared around. For sites where payments are involved, a membership plugin is often a better solution.

Types of websites where password protection is often used:

Photography sites

Audio sites

Adult sites

Innovative sites

Community event sites

Education sites

Promotional sites

Using the Built-In WordPress Password Protection Feature

If you are new to WordPress you may not even have heard of the phrase “Post Visibility”. By default the page or post you publish, will be visible to the enter web world. For the most part, this is great although for some websites where sensitive information is published, the password protection feature is best enabled.

Editing the Visibility of a WordPress Page or Post (Password Protecting)

Enabling the password protection feature for a page or post is as simple as editing the visibility.

On each post and page on your WordPress site, on the right hand site, there is a section titled Visibility.

Public means that all visitors can see the content. Private means that only admin can see the content and Password Protected means that only those with the correct password can view the content. Mark the checkbox next to Password Protected.

You will now be prompted to enter a secure password of your choosing. This will be the letters/numerals that you will need to give your visitors to be able to view the content. A word that isn’t too easy to guess is often the perfect fit.

Once you enter the password, you will need to save the document as a Draft or Publish it out to save the changes.

Your post or page will now be Password Protected! Only those who enter the correct password will be able to view the content.

Don’t forget to share the password with those visitors who should be able to view the content.

How Can my Visitors Enter the Password to View Page/Post Content?

If you have a password protected a page or post on your WordPress site, only visitors who enter the correct password will be given access to the hidden content.

The visitor is given the special password by site admin to view content on a specific page.

They locate the page on the website where they will need to then enter in the password.

They paste the password followed by clicking the Enter button.

If the password was entered correctly, the visitor will be able to see the page or post content.

Same Password for Multiple Protected WordPress Pages (User Friendly Site)

Worried about your visitors having to enter passwords for multiple pages that they should have access to?

If you use the exact same password for multiple pages or posts, your visitors will only need to enter it once to view them all. This means that if they visit one password protected page and enter the correct code, if the next page they visit is protected with the same password they will not need to reenter it.

If you have multiple pages intended for specific users why not link them all to one page? This way your user can visit each document intended for them without having to navigate through your entire site.

Using the WP eMember Plugin to Password Protect WordPress Content

If you wish to charge your visitors to view hidden content on your site, using a membership plugin is a secure and safe option. It allows you to monitor who is seeing the content, securely collect a single or an ongoing payment and end the members access at any given time. The WP eMember Plugin by Tips & Tricks HQ is used across a wide variety of WordPress sites.

Using eMember on a WordPress site allows you to protect your page or post content for specific members only. Those joining your site can choose their membership level, depending on how much they would like to spend along and which content they would like to see. Using eMember, protecting content can be achieved with the click of a couple of buttons.

Whether you wish to protect eBooks, digital items, videos, tutorials, news articles or just general written information, this membership plugin has the capability to do so. Admin can create unlimited membership levels and then assign their content to the membership levels that should be granted access.

You may be wondering how your potential members can sign up? Admin can create a basic ‘Join Us’ page that links to a registration form. Your visitors can use this registration form to sign up to a membership of their choosing. If you are just looking to collect members details rather than payments, why not offer free membership on your site!

How Can I Use eMember to Password Protect my WordPress Content?

Step 1) You will need to purchase the premium WP eMember Plugin from the following page.

Step 2) Once you have installed, activated and set up the plugin by using the tutorials on the documentation page, you are ready to protect your content and offer memberships.

Step 3) Create the different membership levels you wish to offer from the Membership Level menu of the plugin.

Step 4) You can now protect your content on a membership level basis. You can do this by visiting each page/post and choosing which membership level should have access or by completing bulk protection measures.

Step 5) Choose a page/post that you wish to protect. Scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see eMember protection options. Choose to protect the content by marking the checkbox next to ‘Yes‘. Then choose which membership levels will have access to the content.

Step 6) Once you save the changes, only those within membership levels with access to the content will be able to view it. When a visitor tries to access hidden content they will be asked to provide a correct username and password.

Step 7) Members who have active accounts can enter their username and password to view content intended for their level. Those who do not have an account may choose to sign up to view the content.

Password Protecting Downloadable Content

Do you offer downloadable content on your WordPress site? Do you wish you could track, manage and monitor who downloads your digital content better?

Maybe it’s time to start protecting your downloads by using the free Simple Download Monitor and Manager Plugin by Tips & Tricks HQ.

Using either the WP User functions of WordPress or another membership plugin along with the Simple Download Monitor, you can ensure only logged in users can download your content. This means that your downloads become password protected! If you have a membership plugin such as WP eMember and you are using the Simple Download Monitor Plugin, click here to find out how to offer downloads to logged in members only.

How to Password Protect your WordPress Pages or Posts shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

[aileenmbatts]

Favorites of 2018

Another year is in the books, and 2019 brings with it new opportunities, and for many, a chance to start over.

Today’s post isn’t really about looking forward, or about sharing my plan for 2019 (I’ll share that in a few weeks time), it’s about looking back at ‘the best’ of 2018.

Here are a few of my favorite discoveries in 2018. I’d LOVE to hear about yours, so leave a comment!

Books

Principles of Life and Work, Ray Dalio

A look inside the mind of a billionaire entrepreneur. This book is fascinating, packed with useful tips and lessons. I also enjoyed his YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/B9XGUpQZY38

See the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/1508243247/

Sapiens: A Brief History Of Mankind, Yuval Noah Harari

A brilliant overview of the development of mankind, and how society became what it is today. I found the book had a couple of ‘slow’ parts I had to slog through, but I still found it to be a fascinating book and I recommend it to everyone.

See the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari-ebook/dp/B00ICN066A/

Making Money is Killing Your Business, Chuck Blakeman

This book is possibly my #1 favorite of 2018… and I had the pleasure of inviting Chuck Blakeman to speak at our live New York Blueprint Academy mastermind event in 2018. Chuck didn’t disappoint either, in fact his content was SO good I featured it on this website here: http://www.aidanbooth.com/making-money-is-killing-your-business/

See the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Money-Killing-Your-Business-ebook/dp/B00ZK5R50I/

Currently Reading:

– The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History Of The Four Meals, Michael Pollan – The Power Of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

Articles

Wait But Why: The Elon Musk Series

Check it out here: https://waitbutwhy.com/2017/03/elon-musk-post-series.html

This is the one that really stands out for me.

This series of posts is a rare deep dive into one of the greatest minds of our time, Elon Musk. If you want to understand why so many people rave about Musk, then these are the blog posts you need to read. Everything is covered in detail, complex concepts explained in simple ways, and the series left me even more in awe of Musk and his projects.

Music

I don’t have one specific artist or band to mention here, but what I will say is that after a rigorous trial of both Spotify and Apple Music in 2018, I finally ended up choosing Spotify.

Apple Music would have been better for me in terms of syncing across my Apple devices devices, but I find Spotify so much easier to use than Apple Music, Spotify is better in my opinion.

Apps

Gymaholic – Finally an app that I can use on my Apple watch to track gym workouts! I’d hunted for one of these for a while but until I got Gymaholic, I’d never found the kind of thing I was looking for.

This app lets me track all my exercises, sets, reps, and much more, and I can run it all from my watch without needing to have my phone with me.

Audible – After years of not using Audible, I started using it again and LOVE it. In the past few months alone, I’ve been able to listen to several audiobooks that I otherwise never would have got to.

I now find myself listening to audio books in the most bizarre situations… pacing back and forth for 20 minutes with our newborn baby at 4am, walking back to the office after dropping my son at daycare, on the treadmill in the gym, shopping in the supermarket… time that was under utilized previously.

Rappi – This is the secret to fast pizza delivery in Buenos Aires! This app (and similar apps exist in most cities around the world) allows me to order food from restaurants, supplies from local drugstores / pharmacies / supermarkets / grocery shops, and a raft of other deliverable products.

The catch?

If it’s not delivered in 30 minutes, the service charge (which is already minimal) is free. So instead of waiting an hour or more for the local pizzeria to deliver our food, we now get it hot, within 30 minutes.

The service fee is minimal… about $1.

I’ve only had one bad experience so far, this:

It looks like the delivery guy may have had this pizza on it’s side for a bit too long. Rappi support gave us a generous credit for the mishap, so there’s another benefit of using this service, a second layer of support beyond just the restaurant.

Vivino – Wine drinkers will LOVE this free app.

What it lets you do is take a photo of a wine bottle label with your phone (all done within the app), then the app sucks in information about the wine, such as:

How much it normally sells for

Average ratings and critiques

Taste characteristics

World wine ranking

Variety background (eg. What is New Zealand Pinot Noir known for)

Food pairings

Related styles

And MUCH more

It also lets you know if you’re really getting a good deal when buying wine… is what you’re buying actually any good? Check it out for yourself, I’d love to know what you make of it!

Best Buys Under $50

Audible Subscription ($14.95/month) – I spoke about my return to Audible above… the subscription is now a no-brainer for me, I can’t imagine I’ll cancel it anytime soon!

Kathmandu Foldable Backpack ($20) – One of my favorite companions, this little guy is extremely lightweight, surprisingly strong, surprisingly spacious, and folds up into the palm of my hand.

I take this with me whenever I travel, and use it every week when out and about in Buenos Aires. Check it out here: https://www.kathmandu.co.nz/pocket-pack-v4.html

SIDENOTE: I lost this bag on a flight to London earlier this year (it eventually turned up and was returned to me), and it was the first thing I re-purchased (when I thought I wasn’t going to get it back).

Best Buys Over $50

Garmin Forerunner 935 ($500) – I’m sure you’ve heard me speaking about fitness, and in particular swimming in the past.

This watch is the king of the fitness landscape (I use an Apple watch for gym workouts, but the Garmin for swimming and running). It takes tracking to the next level, and is far more effective at capturing all my key metrics than my Apple watch.

All data is sucked in to my Garmin iPhone app to enjoy later.

Apple Airpods ($159) – I never thought I’d bother getting these, I just didn’t really see the value in them (remarkably, I remember thinking the same thing about the iPad, then again about the iPad Pro…). That was UNTIL I rekindled my love affair with Audible. These little earbuds are brilliant, and last an amazingly long time on just one charge!

How about you?

I’d LOVE to hear about your favorites from 2018, leave a comment below!

Favorites of 2018 shared from AidanBooth.com

[aileenmbatts]

How Negotiate Like A Local In A Chinese Flea Market

Welcome to AidanBooth.com, thanks for visiting!

Having been in the physical product eCommerce business for over a decade now, and especially since we opened our office in Guangzhou, China, in 2015, I’ve learned a thing or two about negotiating with Chinese suppliers, and that’s exactly what this blog post is about today.

Your ability to negotiate will set you up to secure solid profit margins, or to struggle to make ends meet, it’s an absolutely VITAL skill to possess if you’re involved in buying inventory in China, or anywhere else for that matter.

Read on to learn how to negotiation like a local in a Chinese flea market, and make sure you download the 7 Bullet-Proof Business Blueprints as well if you haven’t done so already (brand new a few weeks ago!):

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Negotiation Hack #1: Establish A Starting Point

What I mean by this is to find out what you’d pay for a non-customized item if you were to buy in bulk.

If you’re starting from scratch with a new product, for example, a camera case, it helps to know what you could get that camera case for if you were to order a large quantity, without customization.

Alibaba.com gives a pretty good estimate, but you still need to ask the question to the supplier to hear what they can really do.

Once you’ve got your price, you have a starting point from which to continue.

Negotiation Hack #2: Do Your Homework

If you come into a negotiation uneducated about the product you’re trying to develop and buy, you’re starting off on the back foot and immediately handing a huge advantage to the manufacturer.

Don’t get me wrong, we always aim for a win-win and that’s something I’ll discuss shortly. But remember this, the Chinese will NOT do a deal where they’re losing out, so don’t fret about that… what you do need to worry about is if you put them in a position where they NEED to cut corners, and end up delivering a sub-standard product, hence the win-win approach.

Getting back to doing your homework, if I wanted to get into the camera case space, I’d learn about the different fabrics used (exterior, interior, padded lens pockets, etc), the hardware used (zips, latches, clips), the amount of material needed and the required case size, the color, the grade of fabric, the weight of a finished product, and so much more.

I’d understand the raw costs of these materials, and I’d try to understand (if possible) the manufacturing processes used.

Is the product hand made? Made by automated machinery? Or a mixture of both methods?

I’d also want to understand the market, and what the key players are doing. Regardless of what you’re selling, you’ll always have down and dirty cheap products, the kind you see on AliExpress.com, and higher end no-cost-spared products.

It’s beneficial to understand the specifications of these products so you can talk to the manufacturer in language they understand, and show that you also know what you’re talking about. This alone will shave percentage points off the price you finally end up paying.

Negotiation Hack #3: Build A List Of Specifications

An expansion on hack #2, the more specific you can get about what you need, the easier it’ll be to ensure you’re getting what you paid for, and in fact that you’re getting a good deal.

Create a ‘Product Specification Sheet’, and add in all the specifications you can think of, here are a few ideas to get you started:

Dimensions

Material Specifications (eg. 3.175 mm (0.125”) neoprene)

Material Treatments (ip67 grade water resistance)

Components (eg. YKK Metaluxe zippers)

Colors

Functional Requirements

Chemical Requirements (eg. Surface Treatments)

Logo (design file, positioning, material)

Product Packaging and Packing

International Quality Standards

Certifications

Don’t freak out… most people don’t go to this degree of detail, especially when they’re getting you started. But I promised to teach you how to negotiate like a local in a Chinese flea market, and THIS is how you do it. You can get good results just by applying a few of the simpler hacks covered in this article.

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Negotiation Hack #4: Give Price Targets

After establishing a starting price point, and after then going back to your supplier with your list of custom specifications and desired purchase quantity, you’ll be given a new price, for the sake of example, let’s say it’s $13.75/unit.

As a preliminary step to this, you should already have an idea of your desired market price point based on the grade of product your developing, and your marketing abilities. Let’s say your desired (realistic) sell price is $40.

At this point you can go back to your supplier and ask them the following:

“I need to be able to manufacture this for $9.50, what can you do to meet that price?”

You’ll now need to be willing to make some concession here.

The manufacturer will likely want to downgrade materials, sell you a larger quantity, or move the transaction back in their favor in some way, and this is absolutely fine. Maybe 2 mm neoprene is actually FINE for what you need, so you’ll accept that (instead of the initial 3 mm).

The point is, this hack sets you up to get a better price and puts the onus on the Chinese manufacturer to figure it out, otherwise they stand to lose the deal.

Negotiation Hack #5: Get A Second Supplier

Good old supply and demand working in your favor!

This is possibly one of the most powerful hacks of all, and one that has multiple positive spin-offs for you.

First, you’re generating competition, and this will keep your supplier working hard and providing a good service.

Secondly, your supplier will know that they don’t have a monopoly-like control over you, after all, you’ve got a plan B working in parallel.

Thirdly, in many cases a second manufacturer will allow you to ramp up your production, if you’ve current got a limit on output with your first manufacturer.

There are lots of other benefits as well, the main one relating to negotiation however is that you can tell each supplier:

“I’ve got a supplier who can manufacture this for me at a cost of $8 per unit in a quantity of X, can you match that?”

In some cases, your supplier may think you’re bluffing, which is fine, you can order with your second supplier, and come back to the first supplier again at a later date. In most instances though, if you can show you’ve got a real offer, you’ll get a better price that what you started with.

Negotiation Hack #6: Visit The Factory

It’s hard to beat face-to-face interaction when trying to strike up a deal.

Going to the factory shows that you’re serious, and commands better prices from the outset, it’s also a once in a lifetime experience, where you’ll be wined, dined, and treated like an emperor!

Don’t be fooled though, the lavish pampering you’ll receive is all designed to win over your business, and soften you up to pay a higher price

Regardless, visiting face-to-face at some point will help you get a better deal.

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Negotiation Hack #7: Aim For A Win-Win

You’ve got certain numbers you need to hit, and so do your suppliers, and HOPEFULLY there’s a middle ground you both have in common where the deal becomes a win-win.

If you’re able to build up an honest and somewhat transparent relationship with your supplier, you’ll have an easier time when it comes to finding that happy middle ground.

For example, if your supplier says that it’s difficult for them to apply a barcode to your product, because it’s labor intensive, then look for an alternative solution, and you may both be better off. Or if doing quality checks on-site isn’t really supported, but you’re insisting on it, you may end up doing more harm to your product than good… it may be better to get QA done at another facility designed to do QA.

Regardless of the path your negotiations take, for long term success you’ll need a supplier that’s prospering, and your supplier needs you to prosper as well, so try to find a way where you both win.

Negotiation Hack #8: Look For Lower MOQ’s

MOQ stands for ‘minimum order quantity’, and it’s a key consideration when you’re getting started with a new product.

We find that a comfortable first order MOQ is around 200 – 300 units for a product which may cost $5-$10 to manufacture (obviously the starting MOQ varies enormously from niche to niche, product to product, but this will at least give you a starting point as to what’s possible).

In order to reach an MOQ of 200 – 300 units, we normally start off by looking at suppliers who are willing to offer 500 units as an MOQ… this puts you within range of finding a deal.

If you start with suppliers who are talking about mega orders of multiple thousand units, you’ll never get them down to what you’re after. Once you’re established and selling well, you can look at changing to a bigger supplier, who will likely give you decent price breaks and maybe even make a superior product.

An effective tactic here, when negotiating your MOQ, is to say something like:

“This is an experimental market for us, we’ve never sold in this market before and as we want to continue to do business with you and set a good starting point for both businesses, we need to start with a lower MOQ of 200 to make it viable. If things go well as we expect them to, then in the future we’ll be able to far exceed your MOQ.”

In addition to the above, you can also say that you’re willing to accept a higher price for your lower MOQ order, with the condition that the price is revised once the MOQ is reached.

Negotiation Hack #9: Be Ready To Walk Away

Don’t get attached to anything. At the end of the day, the numbers are king in this business (and any business really), and you need to be able to make a decent margin, or there’s no point in doing it.

If you’re offering a fair price, and your supplier can’t meet it, then walk away.

Move on, and find another supplier. China is the manufacturing Mecca of the world, and there are ALWAYS alternative suppliers.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ll be able to raise your prices to make it work, or that you’ll be able to reduce your prices later (even if you very well may be able to do both of these things).

You need your product to work from the get go, and you need to build enough buffer in to protect yourself when you launch, so don’t get attached, and walk away from the deal if you need to.

And don’t just walk away if the price isn’t right, be prepared to walk for other reasons too. For example, if your supplier pulls out any shenanigans, or plays any games, you’ve always got the option to walk.

This happens all the time, we’ve seen supplier try all kinds of tricks (mainly to raise prices), such as:

“labor cost went up, we need to raise the quote”

“taxes went up, we can’t manufacture for $8 anymore”

“material costs went up”

“it’s our busy season”

Sometimes the reasons are real, and you should be aware of that… but at the same time, don’t let a supplier take you for a ride and try to rip you off.

Negotiation Hack #10: Build A Relationship

Don’t ask for everything on your first date.

Build a relationship before you ask for payment terms and other benefits. Once you’ve built report with your manufacture, and more importantly, trust, you’ll be amazed at how much they’ll be willing to sacrifice to keep your business.

We’ve got suppliers who are willing to start orders for us without even getting a deposit. Others who pro-actively find ways to reduce our costs and look for new win-win scenarios.

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Negotiation Hack #11: Timing Is Important

Price negotiations must be done at the right time.

If you’ve already made commitments to your supplier, for example, perhaps you’ve paid for a tool to be made specifically for you, then they know that you’re pretty much tied in, and unlikely to back out of any deal already made, so will NOT come back to the negotiating table.

And if no deal has been made, then that’s even worse, because now they have you in a choker hold, and you’ve got almost no wiggle room.

The exception here is if you have an established product, at this point, and especially if you’ve got multiple manufacturing options, you can come back to the negotiating table in a fairly strong position.

Negotiation Hack #12: Stay Current On Raw Material Costs

It pays to keep a record of raw material costs, so you can monitor that you’re getting a good deal on an ongoing basis, it also shows that you’re not a stupid gringo, and are aware of market conditions.

If you see raw material prices drop, you may want to ask your manufacturer about that and see if you can pocket some of the difference.

Negotiation Hack #13: Speak Their Lingo

If you really want to negotiate like a local in a Chinese flea market, you’ll go a long way to doing it by engaging a local.

One of the main reasons we opened an office and hired a team in China was to have feet on the street, people who speak the language, know the culture, and are able to carry out a lot of the negotiation on our behalf.

But you don’t need an office to do this, you can hire a ‘sourcing agent’ in any city in China quite easily, just post a job on Upwork.com, or Freelancer.com, you’ll be inundated with candidates!

Negotiation Hack #14: Don’t Rush Negotiations

Expect a lengthy and drawn our negotiation time period, especially if you want to get the best deal.

The Chinese know that most westerners just want to get the deal done and move on to the fun part, selling product and making money, so they use this to their advantage, and in some cases will actually try to deliberately wear you down until you eventually just agree to their terms… but be patient, it’s worth it.

You can’t rush the Chinese, and you shouldn’t want to do that anyway. Flesh out all the trivial details to ensure you’re on the same page, and you get what you want.

Negotiation Hack #15: Walk The Walk

If you talk, walk, and look like a newbie, the Chinese manufacturer will use this to their advantage and tear you apart.

Conversely, if you approach every stage sourcing, communication, and negotiation, you’ll get a better deal.

But how do you do this if you really are a newbie?

There are a few things you can do:

Set yourself up with a ‘@brandname’ email address (this instantly gives you more street cred than gmail).

Tell them you have an office in China, and be specific as to where it is. I’m not saying you should lie, but if you’re using an inspection center, you could say that’s your office. Our company does have an office and team based in Guangzhou, all our product passes through it, we always make this known to suppliers.

Speak about your business as though you’re already well established. Ideally you want to be able to tell suppliers that you do millions of dollars worth of sales each year, and have a large product line.

Like the old corporate adage, “fake it till you make it” is quite useful here!

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Got a question? Got a comment? Leave it below.

Thanks for visiting,

Aidan

How Negotiate Like A Local In A Chinese Flea Market shared from AidanBooth.com

[aileenmbatts]

Force a File to Download (PDF, Image, Audio) Rather than Showing up in the Browser

If you run a website where you offer downloadable content to your visitors this tutorial will help you ensure that the item is always saved to their computer. Without putting steps in place to force a file to download, some browsers will only display the item rather than download it.

While simply showing the downloadable item such as an image and allowing the customer to download it at their pleasure is fine for some websites, other times it makes sense for the item to be directly downloaded to the visitors computer.

In this tutorial we will outline how you can always force a file to download rather than showing it in the visitors browser.

When to Force a Download and Why

If you are offering a large item, even if this is a pdf it is recommended to force this download. Your visitor may want to read this later on so having it saved to their downloads file can allow them to do this.

If your customer has paid money to purchase the download, then forcing the download can ensure that they receive what they have paid for. While viewing the download within the browser can often work for images, your user may forget to save it prior to exiting. This means that they no longer have a copy of what they purchased.

How to Force a File Download

If you wish for all your downloadable content to be automatically saved on your visitors computer complete one of the following options (depending on your developer knowledge and website needs):

Option 1 to Ensure Items are Forced to Download: Zip File

Zip File Example

Encapsulating your downloadable items in a zip file will ensure they are forced to download. This is a simple technique that forces the download as browsers are unable to read a zip file.

The majority of your users will know that they will need to open this file to then receive their downloadable content.

Steps to Placing my Download in a Zip File

Save your downloadable item to your computers desktop.

On your computers desktop, right click on the item.

Choose the ‘Send to‘ option and then choose ‘Compressed (zip) folder‘.

 This will place your download in a zip folder.

When attaching your downloadable item, choose the one that has been placed in the zip folder.

Option 2 to Ensure Items are Forced to Download: Use of Code

Adding some code to your .htaccess file of your server can ensure you force particular downloads.

The following example demonstrates the code that you would need to add to force PDF files to download:

<FilesMatch "\.(?i:pdf)$"> ForceType application/octet-stream Header set Content-Disposition attachment </FilesMatch>

You can change the word “pdf” to any other file type based on your need. Some file examples include: mp3, mp4 and doc.

The example below displays how you can force the download of multiple different files including: mov, mp3, jpg and pdf.

<FilesMatch "\.(mov|mp3|jpg|pdf)$"> ForceType application/octet-stream Header set Content-Disposition attachment </FilesMatch>

Option 3 to Ensure Items are Forced to Download: When Using Amazon s3

If you are storing your files to your Amazon S3 account (instead of your server) then you can complete the following to ensure a force download of those files takes place.

Set the correct headers on your files in Amazon S3 in order to force the browser to download rather than opening the file. You will need to set them when uploading the files to S3.

Set the following: Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=FILENAME.EXT Content-Type: application/octet-stream

Option 4 to Ensure Items are Forced to Download: When Using DropBox

If you have your downloadable item stored in a drop-box account, there is a way to ensure this item is always forced to download when a user clicks on it.

If you want the contents of your drop-box link to download rather than to be displayed in the browser, you can add the parameter “dl=1” to the end of the download link. See the example below for the correct positioning of this parameter:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a1b2c3d4ef5gh6/example.docx?dl=1

Force a File to Download (PDF, Image, Audio) Rather than Showing up in the Browser shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

[aileenmbatts]

Steps to Improve Your eCommerce Product Sales

So far this year, statistics show eCommerce sales account for 653 Billion US dollars worldwide. While many entrepreneurs are attempting to sell a product or service online, only a small percentage of these sites are successful.

Your product pages will either encourage or discourage buyers from clicking on the payment button. While a fancy shop page may be visually appealing, it goes far beyond this. Creating a shop page that is informative, precise and neatly laid out can help to turn your browsers into buyers.

Whether you have already set up an eCommerce site or are thinking of doing so in the near future, this article will address a number of ways you can improve your product pages and in turn, increase your revenue.

What is the Overall Aim of a Product Page?

Before we delve deep into fixing up our product pages in a mission to increase sales, it is important to firstly identify what a product page is; and what it should include.

In simple terms, a product page is where a customer can go to read details about a product. Product pages generally include a call to action button that the visitor can click to purchase the item or service. While anyone can create a basic product page, a ‘great’ product page includes some key differences.

A ‘great’ product page incorporates the following:

Detailed information about the product including high quality images and videos 

Details about the brand

Assurance that the product will work out for the buyer

Feeling Disheartened about Your eCommerce Site? Persistence and Patience is Key

Before you read on further, it is important to understand that persistence and patience is key. Becoming rich over night from an eCommerce website is as rare as winning the lottery. Those who run successful websites generally have invested many hours in doing so.

Did You Know? 

Only 22% of online business owners are satisfied with their conversion rates.

Using videos on your website landing pages can increase sales by 80%

Personalized call to action buttons convert 42% more visitors

Tips & Tricks to Creating Successful Product Pages

You have a decent amount of traffic coming to your website although your visitors are not transitioning into customers. Below we’ve identified some tips and tricks that many successful eCommerce sites implement to increase their conversion rates.

The ultimate goal when creating a product page should be to inform and entice your visitors to click the payment button. While there is some method to creating a highly converting product page, the ingredients will differ depending on your specific site and the product or service you are offering.

#1 Clear Call to Action Buttons – Visibility and Consistency

When speaking about a product call to action button two words should come to mind. Visibility and consistency.

Ensure your buttons are visible to those young and old.  Be consistent across the entirety of your website. Choose a button style and color and stick to this across your entire site.

Without a call to action button, the customer has no way of easily purchasing the item. The call to action button, whether it be an ‘Add to Cart’ or ‘Buy Now’ button should be the most important component of your product page.

Positioning your CTA button center stage in an uncluttered position will ensure no visitors with the intention to purchase will miss it. The color and size of your button is also important. Choose a color that suits your website although something that will stand out from the background.

Keeping your CTA simple and neat is always the best technique. Someone who is genuinely interested in buying your item will be looking for a simple ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Add to Cart’ button.

Ikea Use a Deep Blue CTA Button that Stands Out Against the White Background

#2 Product Page Address & Speed

If you are asking for your customers to supply you with credit card payment details you should always have an SSL certificate. Ensuring the safety of your customers payment details should be prominent. When talking in terms of an eCommerce site, HTTPS should never be negotiable.

Pages that are slow to load can also turn away potential customers. Lagging pages are one of the biggest conversion killers in the eCommerce world. Ensure you have dedicated hosting if you intend on exponentially growing your business.

If You are Running an eCommerce Website, Always Acquire a SSL Certificate

#3 Quality Images and Videos

No matter what product or service you are offering, ensure any photos that you include are of high quality. The photos give buyers and idea of the item that they are paying for and often what they can expect to look like when using or wearing the item. High quality photos that display every aspect of the item will give your customers the confidence they need to click the ‘CTA’ button.

If you have multiple photos of your product on hand, why not include them all? The more angles of the item. The better. Including a zoom option allows your customers to view the image closer to see the details of the item.

While adding videos does not make sense for all products and services, including one video for a product it makes sense for can increase conversion. A handful of the top fashion stores display videos of models wearing their items. Including a 360 degree view of the product gives the customer the best possible demonstration of the item they will be purchasing.

High quality images – no fuzzy business

Ensure all images are of the same or similar sizes

360 degree views of your product can help to increase sales

Supply an image of each variation available (where it makes sense)

Enable zoom-able images where possible

Provide your customers with context for example, a model wearing the clothes you have for sale

Nike Include an Even Mix of Videos and High Quality Images to Advertise their Products

#4 Easy Navigation

Visiting your website as a buyer can help you see where they may become frustrated or confused. Critic how easy it was to find the product that you are looking for. Did you need to click just a couple of buttons? Or was it a tedious process.

Having your product pages neatly organised into categories and sub categories can allow your customers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. If your customer cannot easily locate the product they are looking for it can deter them from continuing to visit your website.

Categories and Sub-Categories Help Visitors Quickly Locate the Product they are Searching For

#5 Product Name & Price

While the name of your product generally does not encourage or deter a shopper to proceed to checkout, a catchy name is more likely to be remembered.

The price of your product as well as the call to action button; a ‘buy now’ or ‘add to cart’ button should both stand out from the rest of the product page. Choosing a stand out color for your buy now button can draw your customers in. The price should be written in one of the largest fonts found on the page. Placing the price right by your call-to-action button makes sense.

Many business owners use the left-digit effect where an item can be only 1 cent less although the entire price appears cheaper to the buyer. A product advertised for $29.99 appeals to customers compared to a product listed for $30.00 while there is only 1 cent difference between the two.

If you are offering a discounted price make sure this is pointed out to your customers such as the previous price crossed out beside the current price. This way your customers are visually displayed the discount they are receiving and who doesn’t love a sale!

Displaying a Previous Price Next to the Current Price Will Indicate to the Visitor that they are Receiving a Discount

#6 Description

The description you give of your product can often make the final decision (along with the price) for a browser to click the payment button or to leave the site. This is where you as a business owner have the opportunity to ‘sell’ your item to potential customers. Including descriptive language can help a customer envision how your product will positively impact their life.

While copying a stock description may seem like the easy way out, this gives you little SEO benefit. Adding your own personal touches can go a far way.

Many companies choose to bullet point their description so that their visitors can scan the information and digest it easily. Another great way to keep the description concise is by adding a ‘read more’ button for those that wish to read the full description. While some visitors are happy with the basics, other visitors like to know the nitty-gritty prior to checking out.

In the description of any product it is important to ask yourself what you as a customer would want to know about the product or service. Answering some of the following questions within the description of your product can increase the liklihood of a browser turning into a buyer:

What material is the item made of?

Where was the item made?

How was the item made?

What can the item be used for?

How is the item packaged?

Is there a shelf-life for the item?

What care instructions should be included?

Does the item come with a warranty or money back guarantee?

Can the buyer return the item?

For Long Descriptions, Add a ‘Read More’ Link

#7 Variations

If there are a number of variations your customer can choose from such as color and size, make the process as simple as possible. Drop down menus often work well for product variations. Other online stores graphically present product variations so that buyers can simply decide which style they like better.

Where possible, ensure you are offering variations for your products. While keeping a product simple can work for some sites, having the options there will never loose you a sale.

Nike Display their Variations as Different Boxes that the Customer Can Click On

#8 Related Products

Adding related products towards the bottom of the page exposes buyers to other products that they might be interested in. For example, your customers may be viewing a t-shirt. A related product may be a pair of jeans that you are selling.

Displaying related products can be shown on the product page or after the customer clicks the CTA button. If one product isn’t perfect for your customer you’d hope another relative product will be a better fit.

A Number of Relative Products Will Ensure You Don’t Entirely Loose a Potential Customer

#9 Offer Reassurance

Did you know that 85% of your customers will read reviews prior to making a purchase?

Unless you are a global brand, customers may be skeptical when making their first purchase. Integrating your social media accounts allows your customers to view what others are thinking about your product or service. Adding a comments area to each of your product pages also allows previous customers to speak what they thought about the product and delivery. If you are providing a good quality item with prompt shipping you are likely to receive good feedback.

Including your returns policy can also give your customers reassurance. Knowing that a return is an option can give your customers confidence.

When answering negative reviews always be professional and apologetic. Leaving any negative reviews unanswered can turn future customers away.

Including a Star Rating of Your Product Can Allow Customers to Visually See Other’s Opinions

#10 Sprinkle a Sense of Urgency

I use the word sprinkle because adding too much ‘urgency’ to your product can actual turn customers running. Including a sense of urgency such as crossing out variations that have sold out, or mentioning if a product has recently sold close buy can encourage the customer to take the next step and checkout.

A Sense of Urgency is Created through the ‘Crossed-Out’ Sizes

Product Page Checklist

Being honest about the product you are selling is always important. This way your customers are not left disappointed. Ensure that you have answered any questions your customers may have about your item somewhere on the product page.

Product Price (Including Shipping and Tax Costs)

Product & Variations

A Call to Action Button (add to wishlist, add to cart or buy now)

A Description

Product Images and Videos

Product Page Address (HTTPS)

Navigation Menu

Related Products

Sprinkle a Sense of Urgency

Reassurance Through Reviews

Estimated Shipping Date

Information Regarding Returns Policy / Warranty

‘Great’ Product Pages

Implementing the tips and tricks above on your own site will help to turn your browsers to buyers. Depending on your website, some tips may help with conversion more than others.

Visit your product pages as if you were a customer. Ask yourself if anything is missing or unclear. Removing any doubts surrounding the product or service ensures there is nothing holding the potential customer from clicking the payment button.

If you have any other suggestions that you think we’ve missed in relation to improving product pages to increase sales please let us know in the comments section below.

All the best with your eCommerce website. If you are setting up a WordPress site, take a look at our eCommerce solutions here.

Steps to Improve Your eCommerce Product Sales shared from Tipsandtricks-HQ

[aileenmbatts]

Protected: Making Money Is Killing Your Business

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Protected: Making Money Is Killing Your Business shared from AidanBooth.com